Peabody Lost
by 1234BlueLagoon
Summary: After Mr. Peabody goes missing and is presumed dead, Sherman not only must attempt to discover what happened to him, but he also must deal with the court trying to find him a new home.
1. Lost

_Here is a new story I'd like to test out on you readers. I'm kind of excited about it! It will probably contain a few OC's, and any spoilers from the movie are accidental. Constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated!_

CHAPTER ONE

"No, no, no!" Mr. Peabody yelled, "This isn't happening!"

Unfortunately, the klaxon horns within the time machine proved that it was indeed happening.

"I've got to hurry," Mr. Peabody said out loud to himself, frantically pressing buttons, "If I don't calculate the precise moment..."

The WABAC lurched, throwing Peabody out of his seat.

"It's a good thing I didn't bring Sherman," he mumbled, practically clawing his way back to the controls, "Aha! I have it!"

He pressed several more buttons and made several more calculations, but it wasn't enough. The horns kept sounding. This was starting to get annoying, so Peabody flicked a switch and silenced them. That didn't solve the immediate problem, though.

"Let's see," he said, calculating other options, "Yes! This will do!" He twisted some dials and changed command codes, until all he needed to do to complete the process was press the big red button.

"Now, I must press this at just the right moment," he said, "Or I will miss home entirely. Possibly by several years."

His fingers hovered over the button as his eyes focused on the red screen in front of him.

"Then again, I might not survive this to even reach home at all," he said.

The screen was showing orange now instead of red.

"Steady," he said, "Steady..." The screen was about to show green.

"This is your last chance, Peabody. Get it right..." He told himself, "Now!"

His hand raced for the button. But at that moment turbulence hit the WABAC, and Peabody was thrown out of his seat onto the floor. He quickly scrambled back and pressed the button.

But he knew that he was too late.

* * *

Sherman woke up and rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh, is it morning already?" He groaned.

He yawned, and rolled over. Mr. Peabody would come in to check up on him soon, like he always did. Then there was breakfast and the Saturday to enjoy. They were going to go to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon at 9:30 am. Until then, he might as well stay in bed. Bed was soft and warm, and the place outside the bed was not.

So Sherman snuggled deeper under his blankets, and almost against his own wishes peeked at the clock beside his bed.

_10:42 am._

"WHAT?" Sherman yelled, jumping out of bed, "How could I have slept in so late?"

He practically threw his glasses onto his face in the same motion that he threw off his covers, and raced to Mr. Peabody's room.

"Mr. Peabody, Mr. Peabody!" He shouted, "We're late! We're..."

But Mr. Peabody wasn't there. His bed was neatly made, and clearly empty.

So Sherman raced to the kitchen.

"Mr. Peabody, Mr. Peabody!" He repeated.

But he wasn't there either, and apparently neither was breakfast.

"Where are you, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked. Where else would he be? Sherman snapped his fingers. "The WABAC!" he said.

He raced to the elevator and made his way to the machine. Sure enough, it was gone.

"Well, now I know where he went," Sherman said, "I guess he's just late coming back..."

It didn't make much sense that Peabody would be late when he had a time machine, but Sherman decided to ignore that fact.

"Guess I'll have to make my own breakfast," he mumbled, going back upstairs.

That event soon proved to be a disaster. After he burned his finger trying to make eggs, and he burned the oven trying to make toast-an event in which he also rendered the toaster unusable for all future occasions-he nearly burnt the house trying to make pancakes. So he settled for making cereal and milk, and then proceeded to wait for Peabody in his room.

He waited all day. He made himself cereal for lunch and cereal for dinner, and amused himself by playing with some old experiments in his closet. He learned that day that certain chemicals expire over time, and might turn your hair blue.

When it got dark, he really began to get worried.

"He's going to be back when I get up in the morning," Sherman said as he changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth, "And then I'll ask what took him so long."

But the next morning, Mr. Peabody and the WABAC were still gone.

So Sherman finally decided to take action. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, Penny?" He began, "It's me, Sherman. Listen, I kinda have a problem..."

* * *

"But he's not dead!" Sherman yelled, startling the courtroom, "You're lying!"

"Listen Sherman," said the Judge from his seat, "Mr. Peabody left his house without his wallet, without his car, without his keys and without his boy. When a man-er, dog in this case-disappears under such circumstances for an extended amount of time, we must come to the conclusion that he isn't coming back."

"But he is!" Sherman argued, "He's probably on his way to this courtroom right now!"

"Highly unlikely," said the Judge, "Believe me, we all thought he'd be coming back soon. That's why we have delayed finding you a foster home, and that's why we have let you stay with the Peterson family. But since it has been so long, we must pronounce him dead and open his will."

"No, you can't! 'Cause he isn't dead!" Sherman said.

The judge sighed, and rubbed his temple.

"I know this must be upsetting for you, but try to understand," he said, "Peabody stocks are plummeting. The world is in a recession. We need to do this."

Sherman sniffled, but didn't say anything.

"Now, since the court has officially pronounced Mr. Peabody...dead, a new hearing will be convened tomorrow to discuss his will and the boy Sherman's living situation. Dismissed."

"It'll be alright," Penny said, trying to cheer Sherman up as they left the courtroom, "You'll see."

"Right," said Sherman, "Mr. Peabody will come back. He's just _got _to.**"**


	2. Library Investigation

_A special thank you to Luc-Peabody, purpledragon6 and Jasoomian-Panthan for your reviews! Also, thank you to everyone who has favorited this story, put it among their alerts, and everyone just plain reading it. :D  
_

CHAPTER TWO

The sights and sounds of the big fair on that crisp day were almost enough to frighten little boys who didn't like loud noises. But they certainly weren't as scary as the nearby menagerie of animals that Mr. Peabody had wanted to see.

"Come along now, Sherman. The horses won't bite," Mr. Peabody said, dragging the boy behind him with one hand.

"B-but they're so big!" Little Sherman argued.

"They may be rather large, but I can assure you they are perfectly harmless," Mr. Peabody said, "Here. Why don't you pet this one? She seems rather gentle."

Sherman lifted up his hand to pet the same horse that Mr. Peabody was petting.

"There now. You see? It's not so scary after all," Peabody said, "Are you ready to go see the goats?"

"In just a minute Mr. Peabody," said Sherman, "I like this horse. What's her name?"

"Let's ask," said Peabody. He turned his attention to the horse handler. "My good man, what is this fine mare's name?"

"That's Sheba," said the handler, "Ten bucks and the kid can ride her."

"Can I? Can I Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"I don't know, Sherman. Ten dollars is a lot of money, you know."

"Is it really, Mr. Peabody?"

"Why, of course it is," said Mr. Peabody, "How much money do you have at home in your piggy bank?"

"Fifteen dollars!" Sherman said proudly.

"So then, if you take out ten dollars to right this horse, how much money will be left?"

"Um..." Sherman thought, "Five?"

"Very good, Sherman!" said Peabody, "Now, would you like to spend ten dollars from your piggy bank now on this horse, and have five dollars left?"

"Um, no," said Sherman, "I wanna buy that chemistry set. The one with the test tubes."

"Then let's go see the goats," said Mr. Peabody, "I'm sure you can get a much cheaper ride on a horse when we go see the American Indians."

"In the WABAC?" Sherman asked.

"In the WABAC." said Mr. Peabody.

"Cool!" Said Sherman, "Indians are more fun anyway."

Peabody smiled, and began to lead the way.

* * *

_Present Day_

The dining table of the Peterson house was normally empty at this time of day, but now it was covered with papers and thoughts. It was obvious who had been working there. Sherman and Penny were still there, and Sherman was tapping his pencil to his mouth even as he stared at a blank piece of paper.

"Listen, Sherman," said Mrs. Peterson, picking up one of the crude drawings with barely legible writing, "I know you and Penny have been busy trying to find out where your dad went, but you should also try to figure out what to say to the court today."

"What do you mean?" Sherman asked, looking up from his paper.

"She means," said Mr. Peterson from the living room, "That chances are Peabody's Will gives you everything he's got. And in that case, everybody within the country will want to adopt you for your fortune."

"That's ridiculous," Sherman said, drawing a picture of the WABAC.

"What should he say, Dad?" Penny asked.

"Ask to choose who you want to adopt you," Mr. Peterson said.

"I'm not going to choose anyone," said Sherman, "I want Mr. Peabody."

Mrs. Peterson sighed. "Listen," she said, "If Mr. Peabody comes back, and someone else spent all his fortune, what will he say?"

That got Sherman thinking.

"How much money does he have, anyway?" Sherman asked.

"A lot," said Mrs. Peterson, "He's a very successful soldier of fortune, remember? Now, you two better hurry. The court begins again in three hours."

"What's the rush?" Penny asked.

"Don't you two want to go to the library first?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"Yes!" Sherman said, throwing his pencil on the table, "We'll see you in court, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson!" He shouted, practically slamming the front door on his way out.

Penny rolled her eyes and collected his pencil as well as her own. She came outside to find Sherman fidgeting by the porch, impatiently waiting for her.

"Alright, here's the thing," he said as they both began walking, "Mr. Peabody should be stuck somewhere in the past right now. But we haven't found any clues so far. Tonight, let's go back to my apartment and search again. You'd think that he'd have left a clue or something since he's stuck and all."

"Um, sure," said Penny, "Or, he _can't _leave us any clues."

"It's real easy to leave a clue, Penny," Sherman said, "All he has to do is mail a letter."

"Unless he isn't _in _the past," Penny said.

"Impossible," said Sherman, "We've been over this, Penny. He's got to be _somewhere_. And it can't be the future because no matter how long he's stuck there he would have come back to the present already."

"Yeah, I know," said Penny, "Unless he's-"

"_Don't_ say it, Penny!" Said Sherman, "He's fine! He's just stuck, that's all!"

"I know, I know," said Penny, "We've had this same conversation, like, twelve times already. Let's refocus. Where was he going that night? And why didn't he take you with him?"

"I've been trying to figure that out for forever," said Sherman, "He didn't mention any places to me at dinner that night. He seemed really happy, though."

"Maybe he was going to surprise you with something," Penny said, "You sure it wasn't your birthday?"

"Of course not," said Sherman, "Maybe he always took midnight trips and I just didn't know it."

"Maybe," said Penny, "But then, why didn't he come back this time? What happened to the WABAC?"

"It's gotta be broken somehow," Sherman said, "Really broken, so that Mr. Peabody has a hard time fixing it."

"Yeah, but Mr. Peabody's a genius," Penny said, "He can fix anything."

"So what happened?" Sherman asked. He groaned and threw up his hands. "We're back to square one!" He shouted.

"Here we are, we're at the library," Penny interrupted, "Let's look for clues. We have...two hours and forty-five minutes left." She said, looking at her wrist watch. "Alright, where do we start?"

"Let's think. Where would Peabody hide a clue in history, when he knows we're going to look for it?" Sherman asked.

"The dictionary?" Penny asked, "The architecture of the building?"

"Maybe we should ask the librarian first," Sherman said, leading the way.

They entered the building and walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me miss," Sherman whispered.

"Yes?" asked the librarian, whose nameplate said her name was Miss Heartman.

"Suppose that...we're looking for a clue...a time traveler left," Sherman said hesitantly, "Where should we start?"

The librarian looked at them up and down.

"I think I know just the place," she said, "Follow me."

She led them down the library, past multiple rows of books, until she came to the children's section.

"No, not here!" Sherman said, whispering vigorously.

"We were thinking a dictionary or something," Penny added.

"Ah, but that's just what everyone would expect," said Miss Heartman, "The real time traveler hides his clues, so that no nosy adults will find them."

She picked up some children's novels about history and put them on the children's table.

"Wait here," she said, "I'm going to get one more book."

She left them at the table, looking at the selection of books.

"I don't think this will work," said Sherman.

"It's better than nothing," Penny said, opening up an interesting book, "What were we thinking, that we'd look through every book in the library?"

"No," said Sherman, "But there's got to be something _off _in the history books. Or something that shouldn't be at a certain time, but is."

"In that case, the librarian's right," said Penny, picking up another book, "A time traveler probably _would _hide a clue in the children's section, because all the adults would notice if something was in the wrong time."

"Ah, here we are!" said the librarian. She set down a dusty book on the table. It was old, very old-but it was still a children's book.

"This book was always my favorite," Miss Heartman said, "Have fun looking for clues!"

Sherman and Penny stared at the book, which didn't even have a dust jacket. Sherman was the one who opened it.

"Look at that," he said to Penny, opening the book right in the middle.

"At what?" she asked.

"This!" He said, "See? It predicts how a real time machine works. This is just how the WABAC works!"

Penny flipped to the next page.

" _'What to do if you or your loved one is in a time where your language modifier isn't working,'_ " She read, "_'How to speak the local language even if you don't know it.'_ Sherman, this is a how-to book on time travel."

"It might not be what we were looking for, but it might come in handy," Sherman said, putting the book aside.

"Yeah? It's all fake, Sherman." Penny said, "It's in the fiction section, remember?"

"So?" Sherman asked, "Some of it might be real. Look at that drawing of the brake mechanism! That's how the WABAC really stops!"

"Maybe Mr. Peabody got some ideas from this book," Penny said, sounding interested.

"Maybe," said Sherman, "Come on, let's keep looking."

The two of them poured over the rest of the children's history books. Occasionally, they asked one another if certain parts of the books were clues, but in all cases they both decided that they really weren't. They were about to go explore the adult history section when Penny pointed out that they had to be going.

"We're going to be late for court if we don't start leaving now," she argued.

So Sherman checked out the time travel book, and Penny checked out a few interesting books she had found, before they left the building.

* * *

Sherman fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair.

They had been reading Mr. Peabody's will for the last half an hour. And they hadn't even gotten to the part where Peabody said what he wanted everything to go to.

"...and everything else," said the Judge, interrupting Sherman's thoughts, "I bequeath solely to my boy Sherman, to do with as he sees fit."

Sherman and the rest of the court waited for the Judge to finish, but he put the paper down.

"That's it?" Someone asked. Sherman almost didn't recognize him, but then he remembered that he had introduced himself earlier as 'the billionaire Edwin Whiner'. Sherman had decided right then and there that he didn't like him.

"Yes," said the Judge, "As stated at the beginning of his will, Peabody has directed that all of his charities, grants and scholarships are to continue receiving their same amounts yearly. The rest all goes to Sherman."

The crowd made a collective gasp and, like a wave, began to collectively murmur.

"So what's the big deal?" Sherman whispered to Penny, "It's just a will."

Mr. Peterson, who was sitting on the other side of Sherman, answered him.

"It means that you are now richer than everyone in this room," he whispered, "Combined."

Sherman gulped.

"And now," said the Judge, "We will begin the matter of the boy's living situation."

The whole court practically rose to their feet and bellowed out loud, each person practically begging to be the one to take charge of Sherman and his wealth.

Sherman, meanwhile, tried to sink into the floor.

"Order, order!" The Judge cried, and Sherman realized with a start that he had been shouting this order for some time now, "Order!"

The crowd quieted down.

"Finally," said the Judge, exasperated, "Apparently, things are too much for everyone here to handle. We will postpone this decision until tomorrow. Dismissed."

The sound of the gavel brought the murmuring sound into the courtroom once more, and it wasn't until a few minutes later that Sherman and the Petersons could get out of the room-with the help of a large security guard team.

* * *

"Now _that _was close," Penny said as soon as they were back at the Peterson house, "I was almost certain we would be buried alive in there!"

Sherman shivered. "I think they squished my backpack," he said.

Penny gasped. "Mine too!" She said, taking her backpack off of her back, "And I have library books in there!"

Sherman picked up his backpack, which he had just thrown onto the ground, and checked inside.

"Still good," he said, holding up his one library book.

"It's a book about time travel," Mrs. Peterson said. Then she laughed. "I can see why this one attracted your attention," she said.

"Huh?" Sherman asked.

"What's so funny, Mom?" Penny asked, grabbing the book out of Sherman's hands, "This is serious research!"

Mr. Peterson looked over her shoulder, and chuckled.

"I can see you like the author," he hinted.

Penny and Sherman looked at one another, then looked at the author's name. The book was written by one _P. Body_.

"You don't think..." Penny began, but Sherman was way ahead of her. He opened the book and began looking at it page by page.

He didn't need to get very far to find what he was looking for. On the dedication page were the words, _To My Boy Sherman._


	3. The Book

_A special thank-you to Dreamcatcher-Megan, bleazel158, Luc-Peabody, S-H-J, The-DetectiveSmartie, purpledragon6 and RC2012 for your reviews! Also, thank you purpledragon6 for your constructive criticism! And a big Thank You to everyone who has followed, faved and read this story :D_

CHAPTER THREE

"Look, Mr. Peabody! Look look look look!" Little Sherman said, running into Mr. Peabody's room, "Look, Mr. Peabody! I made my own book for you!"

"How very nice, Sherman!" Said Mr. Peabody, putting down his own writing at his desk to pick up Sherman's 'book'. It was several pieces of paper glued together.

"Read it! Read it, Mr. Peabody! Please!" Sherman said.

Mr. Peabody complied. He cleared his throat and turned to the first page-and since Sherman had written the book from right to left, the first page was the page on the very back of the book.

"Let's see," He began, "The hat is on the mat."

"See? That's a picture. The hat is saying to the person there, 'get off my mat!' And the person is saying, 'no, I won't!' And the hat is saying, 'yes you will, or I won't sit on your head anymore!'" And so saying, Sherman burst out laughing.

Mr. Peabody turned the page.

"The cat is on the bed."

"See?" said Sherman, "The person left the hat and went to the bed, but the cat was on it! And the cat said, 'get off!' But the person said, 'I'm tired!' And the cat said, 'Oh alright' and the person said, 'Thanks!'"

Sherman then took the book from Mr. Peabody, and began to read it himself, pointing out exactly what was going on in each picture.

Mr. Peabody nodded his head and listened to the story.

"And there's you, Mr. Peabody!" Sherman said at the end, pointing to a picture of a dog with glasses and a bow tie, "You solved the whole problem by saying, 'Stop!' And everyone did. The End."

Sherman put down the book and smiled widely.

"Thank you, Sherman," said Mr. Peabody, "That was a wonderful story."

Sherman's smile grew wider.

"And I'm going to make another one!" he said.

He ran out of the room and within seconds came back with paper, pencils and glue, and proceeded to create a new story right there in Mr. Peabody's room.

"Don't look, Mr. Peabody," He said, "It's going to be a surprise!"

"I won't," said Mr. Peabody. He finished what he had been writing, and then picked up Sherman's first story.

"I'm going to put this in a safe place, alright Sherman?"

"Okay," said Sherman, "Just don't look at what I'm writing, Mr. Peabody!"

Mr. Peabody smiled, and carried Sherman's story along with his own paper to a large stack of fifteen file cabinets that he had in his room. He carefully opened up a particular one, and placed both his paper and Sherman's story inside.

"You can look now, Mr. Peabody!" Sherman said, "Come and see!"

"Coming!" Mr. Peabody said, and just before he read the new story, he tackled Sherman to the ground and began tickling him.

* * *

_Present Day_

As Mr. and Mrs. Peterson left the hallway for the other parts of their house, Sherman and Penny laid Mr. Peabody's book on the hardwood floor to investigate it.

"Alright, when was it published?" Penny asked.

"Um," said Sherman, glancing through, "Fifty years ago."

"So do you think he was trapped fifty years ago?" Penny asked.

"I don't know," said Sherman, "That's close enough for a letter or something. Why would he just give us this book, and nothing else?"

"Let's write down the name of the publisher," Penny said, writing down the name found on the copyright page, "We can look it up later and find out what your dad was doing there."

"Great," said Sherman, "And maybe we should look through the book for clues while we're at it."

"Right," said Penny.

Sherman began randomly searching through the pages, starting in the middle of the book.

"_How to pick the right outfit for every year."_ He read.

"_What to do if you confuse the Gregorian and Julius calenders."_ Penny said.

"_Proper procedures to follow when tempted to bring back extinct animals._" Sherman read.

_"The quantum mechanics of-"_

"Alright, this isn't working," interrupted Sherman, "What kind of clues would he give us, and where would they be?"

"Well, it's all about time travel and stuff," said Penny, "But I don't see any pictures of a time machine."

"You're right, Penny!" said Sherman, "Let's skip through it and see if there are any plans for the WABAC."

"But even if there are, how will we know how to find your dad?" Penny asked.

"Let's worry about that later," said Sherman, flipping through the pages. He soon reached the end.

"This can't be right," he said, "Why would Mr. Peabody write me a book with everything in it about time travel, but without a way to build the WABAC?"

"Maybe because this book was hidden in the children's section of the library?" Penny offered.

"Maybe," said Sherman, "There must be something else in this book. Something hidden. Mr. Peabody wouldn't hide this book for me for nothing! We need more clues."

The two of them sat and thought for a minute.

"I know!" said Sherman, "Let's look at the table of contents. There might be something there."

"Great idea!" said Penny.

So Sherman opened up the book to the table of contents. It read the following:

_**C**hapter **O**ne...**U**npuzzle the Mystery of Time  
_

_**C**hapter **T**wo...**R**eading is Paramount in Time Travel_

_**C**hapter **T**hree...**O**peration: On Good Piloting Skills_

_**C**hapter **F**our...**V**iewing the World through the Traveler's Eye  
_

_**C**hapter **F**ive...**X**andler's Paradox  
_

_**C**hapter **S**ix...**Z**oning Issues and Temporal Displacement  
_

_**C**hapter **S**even...**Y**ellow Signs: Cautionary Tales of Travel_

_**C**hapter **N**ine...**R**ules Every Time Traveler Should Know_

_**C**hapter **T**en...**M**echanics: Knowing Your Time Machine_

_**C**hapter **E**leven...**V**alor: When to Be a Hero in Time_

_**C**hapter **T**welve...**G**ood Luck, Future Time Travelers!_

"This isn't any help," said Penny.

"Hang on a second," said Sherman, "This doesn't look like something Mr. Peabody would write."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, there's no chapter eight," Sherman pointed out.

"You're right!" Said Penny, "Mr. Peabody would _never _leave out a chapter like that. But the publisher might've. Let's ask him."

"Penny, we don't have the WABAC anymore," Sherman reminded her, "And this was published fifty years ago."

"Then maybe we should look up all we can about the publisher right now," Penny said, "And see if we can find out if that chapter was left out by accident."

She picked up the book and ran with it into the back room where they kept the computer that Penny always used.

Sherman quickly typed in the name of the publisher in the search engine, but what they found surprised them.

"_For his highly acclaimed book about time travel," _Sherman read out loud, _"Mr. P. Body created his own publishing company, which has since published several other acclaimed works by other authors, and has reprinted classical works which otherwise might have been forgotten in time. _So, it looks like Mr. Peabody made this whole book himself."

"Then he left out chapter eight on purpose," said Penny, "But why?"

"Wait, look at this!" Sherman announced, "_Mr. P. Body himself has not been seen since the institution of his publishing company."_

"Woah," said Penny, "That means he might not have stayed in that time frame. Or if he did, he became very quiet about it."

"What are we _missing_?" Sherman asked, turning the pages again, "Why doesn't he just tell us how to find him?"

"Maybe the book has some secret writing in invisible ink?" Penny offered.

"No," Sherman answered, "There can't be any invisible ink, because more than one book was printed. So where would be the first place that Mr. Peabody would think that we'd look for clues?"

"The beginning," Penny offered, "Right?"

"Maybe," said Sherman, "Let's go back to the front of the book and-"

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Um, Penny?" said Sherman, "Are your parents expecting anyone?"

"Not that I know of," she responded.

The doorbell rang again, and they heard Mr. Peterson walk over to open it. From the back room they heard his mumbled voice, and the mumbled voices of a few other people, before Mr. Peterson called out for Sherman.

Sherman and Penny hesitantly made their way to the front door and there, standing in the hallway, was Mr. Peterson, Mrs. Peterson and three armed guards.

"Um, hi?" He asked.

"Sherman," said Mr. Peterson, "These nice men have come to take us back to court."

"What!" Sherman yelled, "We just _left _court! And we're not supposed to go back until tomorrow."

"I know," said Mr. Peterson, "But I guess that someone changed his mind."

"You see, Sherman," said one of the heavily-armored guards, "Since your case is so high profile, the court is going to have it at a more...secluded time."

"This doesn't seem right," muttered Sherman, clutching Mr. Peabody's book as he walked out the door.

"You can say that again," mumbled Mr. Peterson, out of hearing of the guards. His wife shushed him instantly.

"Come on, Penny," said Sherman, waving the book, "Let's look this over in the car."

"Right," said Penny.

The children headed for the Peterson family vehicle, but were stopped by one of the guards.

"Not that way," he said, "We will be taking you in that one over there."

He pointed to a nondescript vehicle, and Sherman and the Peterson family made their way inside.

"Now, isn't this a nice car, Sherman?" Mr. Peterson said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess," said Sherman, "Penny, let's look at the book again."

"Alright Sherman," said Penny, just as the guards started the car.

"Where were we?" She whispered.

"No invisible ink," Sherman reminded her, also whispering.

"Right," she said softly, "Now what? Should we try to find him fifty years ago?"

"A little hard if he's hiding," Sherman responded, "Let's think about clues. Um, a code?"

"Where, in the page numbers?" Penny asked, "We would have found it by now."

"Not necessarily," said Sherman, "He's really smart, remember?"

"But it can't be a code that's too hard," said Penny, "If he expects you to solve it."

"The question is, why would he even write a code?" Asked Sherman, "Why not write a letter and mail it?"

"Again with the letter!" Said Penny, "There must be some reason why he can't write you one."

"But doesn't he want me to find him?" Sherman asked.

"I'm sure he does," said Penny.

"Then why can't he be direct about it?"

"What are you two yakking on about?" Asked one of the guards.

"Um, nothing, Sir!" said Sherman.

"Yeah, nothing!" Said Penny.

The two of them looked at one another, and silently decided to be quiet for the rest of the ride to court.

Half an hour later, Sherman once more found himself in court. It was mostly empty now, and Sherman recognized only a few people who had been there only hours before. One was the billionaire Edwin Whiner, and another was an old woman who looked as if she hadn't even moved from her seat.

"Sherman," said the Judge, "I am pleased to announce that this court has found you a suitable guardian."

"You mean I get to stay with the Petersons?" Sherman asked, "Yes!"

"No," said the Judge, "Someone who can better take care of you. No offense, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson."

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson didn't respond to that, probably because they _were _offended.

"You see," said the Judge, "This court has, after a long decision-making process, selected Mr. Edwin Whiner to be your guardian."

Sherman's jaw dropped.

"It is the belief of this court that a billionaire such as himself will best be able to provide for such a growing young boy, and will best be able to handle your bank account." explained the Judge.

"Um, Mr. Judge Sir," said Sherman, "Can't I pick someone else?"

The Judge looked surprised.

"I mean," Sherman continued, "Do I really need a guardian? I think I can take care of Mr. Peabody's money by myself until he gets back."

The Judge sighed. "Sherman," he began, "The law requires you to have a guardian, and Mr. Whiner has proven to the court that he can handle your money for you."

"Can't I choose my own guardian?" Sherman asked.

"I'm afraid that you are a little too young to make such a decision," said the Judge, "The proper guardian for you must be able to handle all of your business affairs."

"I can do that by myself," said Sherman, "Pleeeeeeeeeease let me choose my own guardian, Mr. Judge Sir! I don't know Mr. Whiner at all, Your Honor Sir. He's a stranger to me. Can't I have the Petersons?"

"See, Your Honor," said Mr. Edwin Whiner, "The child doesn't know any better. That's why I should take him under my care immediately."

"Quiet!" Said the Judge, "Don't speak out of turn. If the boy is uncomfortable, then he must be given time. Sherman," he addressed the boy, "We will give you three days to get used to the idea. Dismissed."

As the Petersons and Sherman left the court, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson were both so mad that they didn't dare to speak.

On their way to the car which would drive them back to the Peterson home, Penny leaned over to whisper to Sherman.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

"I'm going to prove that I can handle Mr. Peabody's money," he said.

"And how are you going to do that?" Penny asked.

"You'll see," he whispered back, "When do you want to explore my apartment for clues again?"

"Better do it soon," she responded, "We might only have three days."

"Let's do it tomorrow," said Sherman, "Right after our trip to the bank."

Penny looked at him quizzically, but at that point they reached the car. And once inside, no one said a word.


	4. Sherman's Idea

_Thank you Jasoomian-Panthan, snowangel420, purpledragon6, OCGirl94, Supermikeyninjalady, The-DetectiveSmartie, bleazel158 and Spring-Heel-Jacq for your reviews! I really appreciate constructive critiques on my writing as well. Thank you to everyone who has read this story, and those who have faved and followed!_

Warning_: Within this chapter, the Table of Contents puzzle will be revealed. Just letting you know in case you want to try working it out more before it's revealed._

CHAPTER FOUR

Mr. Peabody was in a panic. An absolute panic. He was running around the park like a madman. A few of the people in his way suddenly found themselves sitting on the ground. Sherman was in so much trouble for this.

If he found Sherman, that is.

He suppressed the thought, and continued his mad search. Where was he? The swings, the slides? No, neither. His scent was all over the place, since he had been playing there a short while ago.

_Where, oh where had his little boy gone?_

Peabody stopped in his tracks and tried to get rid of the childish nursery rhyme that was now stuck in his head.

"Think, Peabody," he told himself, "Where would Sherman go when he discovered he was lost?"

The police? Perhaps. But before he looked there, Mr. Peabody took a deep breath and went to the gazebo where he had last seen Sherman.

And there, sure enough, was Sherman, crying his eyes out alone.

"Sherman!" Mr. Peabody said, running forward. The boy met him halfway.

"Mr. Peabody!" He said, "I'm sorry I walked away, but I saw a butterfly, and all the people came, and I got lost! And-and I couldn't find a policeman, so I came back here, and you were still gone!"

"Oh Sherman, you had me so worried!" Said Peabody, "Don't ever do that again!"

"I won't, Mr. Peabody," Sherman said, still crying.

"Hush now," said Mr. Peabody, picking up Sherman. He was still small enough that Peabody could do it rather easily, "Let's go home."

"B-but what about the park concert?" Sherman asked.

"They'll be another recital tomorrow," said Peabody, "For right now, let's go home and have something to eat."

"A-alright," said Sherman. "You know, Mr. Peabody," he continued as Peabody carried him homeward, "You're taking care of me right now, right?"

"Yes?" Peabody said, wondering where this was going.

"Someday," said Sherman, snuffling away his tears, "I'm going to take care of you."

Mr. Peabody smiled. "Thank you, Sherman." he said.

He decided that Sherman had been punished enough that day, so he resolved to treat the boy to one of his favorite meals that night.

* * *

_Present Day_

The colossal, Grecian-style building in front of them was taller than some of the surrounding buildings. It had multiple stairs of steps leading up to its front door. It was either a Parthenon, a courthouse, or a bank; and since Sherman and Penny knew the Courthouse and knew it wasn't a Parthenon, it had to be the bank.

"Alright, Sherman. You've had your fun being secretive. Now tell me why we're here." Penny demanded.

"Fine," said Sherman, "I'm going to prove to the bank that I can handle Mr. Peabody's money."

"And just how are you going to do that?" Penny asked, "Even better: how can you be sure they'll give it to you, or that this is Mr. Peabody's bank?"

"Of course it's his bank," Sherman said, "Mr. Peabody's taken me here tons of times. And they'll _have _to let me have his money since his will gives it all to me, right?"

"We'll see," said Penny, and the two of them traversed the multiple flights of steps.

"Oh no!" Sherman said, looking at a sign in the window, "They're closed!"

"Closed?" Penny asked.

But just as they both put their faces to the door to see if it _really _was closed, the doors opened inward, throwing them inside.

"Ah, Sherman! And I see you've brought a friend!" said the voice of the one who opened the door.

The voice helped them to their feet.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said to Penny, and she saw that he was a bank employee, "I am Mr. Williams, and I am in charge of this bank. And who might you be?"

"Penny Peterson," she said, shaking his hand.

"A pleasure," he said, "I was expecting Sherman to come alone; I am delighted he brought a friend."

"Wait, you were expecting me, Mr. Williams?" Sherman asked, "I didn't tell you I was coming."

"Ah, but I got your email," said Mr. Williams.

"He didn't send any email," Penny objected.

"No? Well then, _somebody _told me you were coming," said Mr. Williams, looking a little flustered. He quickly shook it off. "Ah well, it doesn't matter now. Am I correct in that you want to look at Mr. Peabody's wealth, and possibly arrange for some of it to be put to other uses?"

"Um, yes?" Sherman asked, more than answered.

"Then follow me," said Mr. Williams, leading the way.

"How did someone else know that we were coming?" Penny asked Sherman in a whisper.

"I don't know, I didn't tell anyone!" Sherman whispered back.

"Most of Mr. Peabody's wealth is not contained in this bank," said Mr. Williams, pressing the button for the elevator, "Much of it is in property all over the world. A lot of it is also in stocks and bonds. Are you aware that Mr. Peabody also has his own stocks? They are called the 'Peabody Stocks,' and they are famous worldwide."

"Um, interesting," said Sherman, as they all got into the elevator.

"While the ground floor of this bank is used for normal transactions," said Mr. Williams, "The top floors contains all the 'goodies'."

The elevator door opened, and Mr. Williams directed them to the first door.

"Go ahead and open it," he said, "Look around a little."

Sherman hesitantly opened it, and both children gasped.

The room was filled with gold coins and gold bars, all neatly packed into the space of the room.

"Don't go in just yet," said Mr. Williams, "The security beams are still active. Try the next door."

They both ran to the next door, and Penny was the one who opened it. It was filled to the brim with purple jewels.

"Amethyst," explained Mr. Williams.

They ran to the next door, and this one was full of anything that was silver. They kept opening the doors down that hallway-and each room was filled with priceless minerals and stones.

"It must be really cool for the people who get to store their stuff in this bank," Sherman whispered to Penny.

"Agreed," she whispered back.

As soon as they had seen everything on that floor, Mr. Williams brought them to another elevator at the end of the hallway.

"Let's look at the next floor," he said.

This floor was filled with a variety of priceless artifacts, all assorted into rooms based upon the era they were from. Many of them were portraits, but there were also pieces of furniture. Sherman liked the room about the Knights the best.

"Most of these artifacts are constantly on loan to museums across the world," said Mr. Williams, "This is the first time that they've all been in the museum at once. Hah, we almost couldn't fit them all!"

As Mr. Williams continued his tour of the bank, Sherman and Penny found themselves almost overwhelmed by all the treasures within the bank.

"And finally, we will visit the top floor," said Mr. Williams, "Which, I'm told, contains the most valuable treasures of all."

"Is that where Mr. Peabody's stuff is, Mr. Williams?" Sherman asked.

"What?" Mr. Williams said.

"Which of these things are Mr. Peabody's?" Penny asked.

Mr. Williams looked at them hard, then laughed.

"I see!" He said, "Well then. I'll have to show you."

The elevator had arrived at the top floor, but Mr. Williams didn't get out. He pressed the button again, and the elevator went down. It landed at the hallways with all the precious minerals and stones.

"This way," Mr. Williams said.

He led the way past the topaz, past the bronze, past the diamonds, past the rubies, past the pearls, past the silver, past the amethyst, past the gold and into the other elevator. He then took them out of the elevator, into the hallway, past the more common vaults, past the main room, out the front door and down the steps.

"This," he said, demonstrating with his hands while looking at the bank, "This is Mr. Peabody's."

"Wait, the _whole_ bank?" Penny asked.

"No way," Sherman said, "You mean _everything _in there is Mr. Peabody's?"

Mr. Williams nodded his head. "Now, are you ready to see his greatest treasures?"

Sherman and Penny nodded, and were once more led into the bank and up to the top floor.

"Now," said Mr. Williams, as the elevator reached the top floor, "I'll be in the lobby when you're ready to talk to me about monetary matters."

The elevator door opened, and the children got out without Mr. Williams.

"Have fun!" He said, and the elevator doors closed, leaving them alone at the top of the bank.

"Here's the door, Sherman," said Penny, "There's only one."

"Then the room inside has to be huge," said Sherman, opening the door.

Sherman gasped.

"_This _is Mr. Peabody's greatest treasure?" Penny asked.

The room, in contrast to the lower levels, contained all manner of memorabilia, including toys and baby shoes, and especially hand-drawn pictures of Mr. Peabody.

"I gave him this!" Sherman said, running into the room and grabbing a worn-out stuffed animal, "I used to play with it all the time, until I gave it to him for Father's day."

"Wow," said Penny, walking around the room, "Most of these things seem to be yours, Sherman."

They spent a good hour within that room, and while Penny amused herself by playing with a puzzle she found amidst the memorabilia, Sherman was walking down memory lane.

"I can't believe Mr. Peabody has never shown me this room before," Sherman said, "Whenever we went to this bank I always thought he was a customer."

"I guess he didn't want it to all go to your head," said Penny, "Oh! And speaking of which, since all the stuff in here is yours now, can I have this really awesome diamond and gold tiara I found? I really like it."

"Um, no, sorry Penny," said Sherman, "But I have to prove to the court that I can handle all of Mr. Peabody's money, remember?"

"And how are you planning to do that?" Penny asked.

"By giving it all away," Sherman said.

Penny gasped.

"What?" asked Sherman, "It's not like I need it. I'll just keep enough to be able to live on until he gets back. Then he can always get it back again."

"Really, Sherman?" Penny asked, "You're going to give all of this up?"

"Yes," said Sherman, "Everything but this room. Mr. Peabody wouldn't mind. And all this money is only giving me trouble anyway. Without it, Edwin Whiner wouldn't be trying to be my legal guardian."

"Are you sure about this, Sherman?" Penny asked.

"Positive," said Sherman, "I'll give the money away to someone who needs it more than I do. And...I'll let you pick out a jewel or something to keep as a souvenir."

"Why not the tiara?"

"Because I want that to go to the poor too," said Sherman.

"Fine," said Penny, "Then let's go talk to Mr. Williams. He can help you give it away."

Hours later, after much legal jargon, Sherman and Penny left Peabody's bank. Mr. Williams had agreed to handle the money for them, and to give away as much of Peabody's wealth as he could while still leaving Sherman a decent amount to live on. He had asked them both to come back the next day to view his progress. And somewhere along the way Sherman had managed to assign him the project to use some of the money to build modern, up-to-date hospitals in poor countries around the globe.

"That...was exhausting," said Penny, "But thanks for the diamond necklace."

"You're welcome," said Sherman, "After lunch, do you want to go back to my apartment again to look for clues?"

"Definitely!" said Penny, "I also think we should look at the beginning of Peabody's book again."

"Same here," said Sherman. "You know, I've been thinking about whoever told Mr. Williams we were coming."

"What about it?" Penny asked.

"Mr. Williams was waiting for us," said Sherman, "And he wouldn't have been without the email."

"So somewhere we have a friend," said Penny.

"Do you think it was Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"If it was, how would he know what you wanted to do?" Penny asked.

The two were silent, until finally they had reached a restaurant. After lunch-which Sherman paid for with some of the pocket money Mr. Williams insisted he have on hand-they walked into Peabody's apartment.

The place felt empty and abandoned. Sherman shivered, and turned on the lights.

"I don't like it here without Mr. Peabody," he said.

"Then let's get started," said Penny, "Should we start with the book, and then search the place again?"

"Alright," said Sherman.

They laid the book on the floor and began looking through it.

"Here's the table of contents," Sherman said. They read it over again:

* * *

**C**hapter **O**ne...**U**npuzzle the Mystery of Time

**C**hapter **T**wo...**R**eading is Paramount in Time Travel

**C**hapter **T**hree...**O**peration: On Good Piloting Skills

**C**hapter **F**our...**V**iewing the World through the Traveler's Eye

**C**hapter** F**ive...**X**andler's Paradox

**C**hapter **S**ix...**Z**oning Issues and Temporal Displacement

**C**hapter **S**even...**Y**ellow Signs: Cautionary Tales of Travel

**C**hapter **N**ine...**R**ules Every Time Traveler Should Know

**C**hapter **T**en...**M**echanics: Knowing Your Time Machine

**C**hapter **E**leven...**V**alor: When to Be a Hero in Time

**C**hapter **T**welve...**G**ood Luck, Future Time Travelers!

* * *

"Alright," said Penny, "Let's review what we know. There is no chapter eight."

"Right," said Sherman.

"...And that's about it," said Penny.

"Hmm," said Sherman, "Look at chapter five. _Xandler's Paradox_? I've never heard of it. Mr. Peabody probably made it up."

"So let's turn to chapter five," said Penny.

"Wait!" said Sherman, "It isn't about chapter five! It's about the _X!_"

"Huh?" Penny asked.

"Look, Penny!" Said Sherman, "The first word of each chapter stands out!"

"So, is it a clue?" Penny asked.

"Let's find out!" Sherman said. He wrote down each of the first letters of each chapter.

"UROVXZYRMVG," said Penny, "It doesn't exactly read anything. And what does that have to do with chapter eight?"

"I don't know, but this is in code!" said Sherman, "I _thought _the chapter titles sounded weird!"

"Alright, what code?" Penny asked.

"Let's find out!"

The two of them pulled out paper and pencils, and began trying to work out the letters. Eventually they even turned to the books in Peabody's library-but still, they came up with nothing.

"Are you sure this is even a code?" Penny asked, "It might not mean anything at all."

"I got it!" Sherman said, "Penny, I got it!"

"You got it?" Penny asked, excited.

"Yes!" said Sherman, "Look, I found the key! It's a backwards alphabet!"

He showed her his piece of paper:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

"So what's it say?" Penny asked, "Nevermind, let me do it!"

Although Sherman had already figured it out, Penny was so eager to translate the code herself.

She took the nonsense word UROVXZYRMVG, from the first letter of each chapter, and with the help of the decoder she translated it.

"It says, 'FILECABINET,'" she read.

"That almost doesn't help," said Sherman, "Because in his room, Mr. Peabody has, like, _twenty_ file cabinets."

"Sherman," said Penny, "Chapter eight!"

"You're right!" He said, "It's in the eighth file cabinet!"

The two of them dropped what they were working on, and ran into Mr. Peabody's bedroom.


	5. Penthouse Search

_Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter, sorry for the delay! A special thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story, and a very special thank you to Dreamcatcher-Megan, OCGirl94, Spring-Heel-Jacq, Guest, bleazel158, RC, Supermikeyninjalady and The-DetectiveSmartie for reviewing! Thank you again for your constructive criticism! Also, a most especial thank you to everyone who reads this story :D  
_

CHAPTER FIVE

Mr. Peabody sighed, and rubbed his forehead. He was sitting at his nice, clean desk in his room. Sherman was standing right next to him, and Mr. Peabody regretted that he hadn't noticed the boy sneak up on him.

"Whatever am I going to do with you, Sherman?" He asked.

Sherman only giggled in response. He was covered head to toe in mud, with a few leaves and sticks attached. He had to keep rubbing at his eyes to keep the mud out of them.

"Come on, then. Let's get you cleaned up," Mr. Peabody said, picking up the messy child and carrying him into the bathroom.

Sherman only squealed and threw out his arms in protest, unintentionally getting some bits and pieces of mud onto some of the paperwork on the desk.

Mr. Peabody ignored the mess, for now.

"How on earth do you manage to get so messy without leaving the apartment?" Peabody wondered out loud.

Sherman didn't answer, probably because he couldn't speak yet.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to take you to the Roman baths," Peabody promised, "Maybe then you'll learn some good habits on cleanliness."

He brought the child into the bathroom. With ease born from long practice, Mr. Peabody managed to turn on the bathtub, set it to the right temperature, take out all the toys from under the sink, place the toys in the tub, take off Sherman's muddy clothes, prevent Sherman from falling into the tub, pull out a clean towel and fill the tub with bubble bath-all within the space of a few minutes.

"Alright, Sherman. In you go!" said Mr. Peabody, slowly helping the boy into the tub.

Sherman immediately started splashing and playing with the toys.

"Here!" said Mr. Peabody, handing him a toy boat, "Remember Christopher Columbus' ship?"

Sherman laughed and splashed his arms.

"That's right!" said Mr. Peabody, "His ship was bigger, wasn't it?"

Sherman dunked the toy ship under water, crew and all.

"He had three ships that were with him, you know," said Mr. Peabody, "The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Which ship do you think _we _were on, Sherman?"

Sherman played some more in the bathtub, while Mr. Peabody told him stories of some of their adventures, and what they meant.

Finally, after some time, Mr. Peabody decided that Sherman was not only good and clean, but had tired himself out sufficiently. So he took the boy out of the tub and dried him off before carrying him out of the bathroom. Sherman, with his clean clothes and hair, looked like an entirely different boy than the one Peabody had carried in.

"There!" Said the wet Peabody as he placed Sherman down in his bed, "Have a good nap, Sherman. We'll play more later."

As Sherman yawned, Mr. Peabody walked back to his room and viewed the mess. Gathering a mop and bucket, he had the house cleaned up within seconds. He sat down at his desk again, and began to rewrite some of his papers that had too much mud on them to read.

"Let's see," he said to himself, "Aha! That's right. _This_ page is for the manual."

He crossed out some of his notes and rewrote the entire page, supplying from memory the mud-covered words that were illegible.

* * *

_Present Day_

Sherman threw open the door to Mr. Peabody's room, and ran inside.

"Woah," said Penny, "This is his room?"

"Yup," said Sherman, ignoring the many, many bookshelves filled with books, "The file cabinets are over here."

"How come these aren't in the library?" Penny asked.

"Those? Oh, they're just the books he's written himself," Sherman said, "He doesn't like them out in the open, but he likes to have them close in case he wants to rewrite them."

Penny tore her eyes off all the books and ran over to Sherman, who was standing by the eighth file cabinet.

"I thought you said these were always locked," She asked.

Sherman paused, then looked at her sheepishly.

Penny playfully wacked him on the head. "You mean you never checked!" she teased.

"Let's hope this one opens," Sherman said, pulling at the file cabinet. It opened, almost to his surprise.

"What's inside?" Penny asked.

Sherman reached in, and pulled out a small stack of papers.

"Um, it's a story I once wrote," he said, looking at his childish handwriting, "_The hat on the mat? _I don't remember making this. I guess Mr. Peabody kept it here."

"That's it?" Penny asked.

"Hang on, there's something else," said Sherman, reaching inside again.

The cabinet was above his chest, so he was standing on tip-toe to reach in. He pulled out a thick bundle of papers.

"That's it, it's empty now," he said, closing the cabinet.

Penny gasped. "Sherman, look!" she said, pointing to the papers in his hands.

He turned the bundle over, and his eyes went wide.

"It's an instruction manual," he said.

"For the WABAC," Penny finished.

Sherman sat down right then and there on the floor, and opened the book.

"I didn't know he wrote this down!" He said, flipping through the pages.

Something fell out, and Penny grabbed it off the floor.

"Look at this!" she said, "_Sherman, if you are reading this, then something has happened to me and I am no longer able to travel with you._"

"Let me see!" said Sherman, and Penny gave him the paper, "_This book, and a book I wrote under the name P. Body, should help you find the answers to any questions you have about the WABAC. It is my greatest wish that you continue having great adventures."_

"It's signed, _Yours, __Peabody._" Penny read.

"That's not fair!" Sherman said, throwing the book onto the ground, "Mr. Peabody left this here for me a long time ago. That means he went back and published the book a long time ago, too. He's not really stuck fifty years ago! We're back to the beginning again!"

"Hang on," said Penny, gathering up the manual and sticking the paper back inside it, "This could still tell us what happened to him!"

Sherman sniffled, and took the book back.

"You're right," he said, "Where do we start?"

"Well," said Penny, "Let's start with what we know. Mr. Peabody left in the WABAC, but hasn't returned yet. And he hasn't told us which time he's stuck in."

"So," said Sherman, thumbing through the book, "Let's find out what the manual says about the WABAC not working."

"Why don't you look at the table of contents?" Penny asked, watching Sherman turn the pages.

"There isn't one," Sherman said, "This is all written by hand."

He finally turned to a page that he deemed appropriate. "This could be it," he said, "_In the event that the WABAC breaks down in some other time, there are multiple ways to fix the problem and/or call for help. One entirely appropriate way to deal with the situation is to write a message to someone in the future asking for aid."_

"It just doesn't make sense," said Penny, "If the WABAC _had _broken down, Mr. Peabody would have left us _some _message about it."

"Exactly!" Sherman said, "So what happened?"

The two of them stared at the manual.

"Maybe we need the other book too," Penny said, "The one we got at the library."

"Why would we need that one?" Sherman asked, "We have the manual."

"Well, he wrote them _both_, didn't he?" Penny said, "There has to be some reason he did that."

Sherman agreed, so he pulled out the library book and Penny started to look at the manual.

"If anything looks like a clue, write it down," said Sherman.

"Right," said Penny.

They poured over the books without success until, sometime later, Sherman's stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Penny asked.

"Maybe," he said grumpily.

"We should get something to eat again," said Penny, "It's no good searching for clues on an empty stomach."

"Didn't we just have lunch?" Sherman asked.

"That was a long time ago!" Penny said, "I'm getting hungry too. Maybe we should head back."

"I don't know," said Sherman, "We didn't look over the apartment for more clues yet."

"Well, let's get something from the fridge," Penny said.

"They cleaned it out, remember?" Sherman said, "They didn't want the food to spoil."

"Come on, Sherman. I'm hungry too!" Penny said, "Let's find something to eat!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Wait here, I'll get it," said Sherman.

He walked over to the elevator, but Penny decided not to listen to him and followed him anyway.

The elevator door opened and, to their extreme surprise, there in front of them was a pizza delivery man.

"Uh, is this the Peabody residence?" He asked.

"Yeah," said Penny, "But we didn't order any pizza, did we Sherman?"

"No, we didn't," said Sherman.

"It was ordered for you," said the pizza delivery man, "Paid for by your dad."

"My dad?" Penny asked, "He sent us pizza?"

"And a drink," said the pizza man, handing the pizza and a soda to Sherman, "Have a nice day! And don't trouble with the tip."

The pizza delivery man then entered the elevator, and its doors closed before him.

"Well, that was nice," said Sherman, "Remind me to thank your dad later."

"But how did he even know we were here?" Penny asked.

"Don't know. Let's eat so we can get back to work," said Sherman, taking the food into the kitchen, "Come on, Penny! We have to search the apartment before we leave."

"Right," said Penny, "I'll get the plates, you get the cups!"

They opened the pizza-which was a plain cheese pizza-and between the two of them they had soon devoured it. As soon as they were done, they began searching the entire place from top to bottom, paying special attention to the empty room which used to house the WABAC.

"I don't get it," Sherman said, "We've searched this place three times now, and we haven't found anything."

"Well, what are you looking for?" Penny said, "The Mr. Peabody of last year couldn't know that in the future he'd be stuck in the past."

"So, you think that might be why we can't find any traces of him?" Sherman asked, "Because the Mr. Peabody who's stuck knew he couldn't let himself know about it?"

"Maybe," Penny said.

Just then, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered it, "Oh, hi Dad. We're still at Sherman's place."

There was silence. "What?" Penny asked, "Um, alright. Bye Dad."

"What happened?" Sherman asked.

"We're in big trouble, Sherman," Penny said, "My Dad sounded really mad on the phone."

"How come?" Sherman asked.

"I don't know," said Penny, "He just said he was on his way over, and he told us to stay where we are."

Sherman gulped.

"Alright," he said, heading for the elevator, "We'd better go upstairs to meet him."

"It's just, what could he be so upset about?" Penny wondered as they got into the elevator.

Within minutes, she had her answer. The next time the elevator door opened, it was to admit Mr. and Mrs. Peterson into the apartment. And neither one looked happy.

"Penny. Sherman." said Mr. Peterson, "We've been looking all over town for you."

"Oh," said Penny. Sherman was just as confused as she was.

"What made you think you can just walk across the city to this apartment?" Mrs. Peterson said, "Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"I should have taken up the court's offer to get you a bodyguard," Mr. Peterson complained, "Even though that court is a nuisance. We were worried sick about you!"

"B-but Dad!" said Penny, "You let us walk to the library alone! And the courthouse! We thought it was fine to come here too."

"_Yes_," said Mrs. Peterson emphatically, "We let you walk to the library and the courthouse. But those are both near the house. We never gave you permission to walk this far! What were you _thinking_?"

"You know, maybe I can still take up that offer of a bodyguard after all," Mr. Peterson thought out loud, "Don't you know that we have to appear back in court in two days? Why did you both run off like that?"

"Wait!" said Sherman, "Hang on! Didn't you send us pizza?"

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson looked very confused.

"Pizza?" Mr. Peterson asked.

"Yeah!" said Sherman, "A pizza guy came up here, and said that you paid for the pizza!"

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson looked very worried.

"Honey," said Mr. Peterson, "Take the kids home. I'm going to make a call and get that bodyguard after all."

"Come on, kids," said Mrs. Peterson, "Gather your things. We're going home."

"B-but we're not done!" said Sherman, grabbing the WABAC manual while Penny grabbed the library book.

"Oh yes you are!" said Mrs. Peterson, "You're heading home. And the only place we will even _think _of letting you go to is the courthouse and the bank."

"The bank?" Penny asked. Turning to Sherman, she whispered, "Did we tell them about the bank?"

"Yes, the bank," said Mrs. Peterson, leading them both by the hand into the elevator and holding onto their hands even as the elevator went down, "Mr. Williams called and told us what you're doing, Sherman. And while we don't like that you walked to the _bank _alone too, Paul and I think it's a great idea to create those hospitals. But going to the bank is not a reward; it's necessary only for legal procedures."

The elevator finally opened, and Mrs. Peterson led them to the Peterson family car. Which was parked right next to the car Mr. Peterson used for work. Apparently, the both of them had come frantically to the Peabody apartment from two different directions.

"Now get in," she said, "We will discuss your punishment later."

Sherman and Penny dutifully entered the car.

"Sherman," Penny whispered, "If my dad didn't send us the pizza..."

"Do you think...?" Sherman half-asked.

"I don't know," Penny said, "The pizza guy did say the words _your dad_. Maybe he wasn't talking to me."

"Penny," said Sherman, "We might have our clue after all!"

"But what does it _mean_?" she asked.

"And if he knows where _we _are, why doesn't he tell us?" Sherman asked.

"No talking back there," said Mrs. Peterson, "You are both in a boatload of trouble, so stay quiet."

So, of course, they did.

Mrs. Peterson began driving, and Sherman suddenly dropped the manual. Actually, it fell from where he had been holding it.

"Do I hear noises back there?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

Sherman bent down and picked up the manual. But as he did, a piece of paper fell out.

It was the same one that had fallen out earlier, the one which started with the words _Sherman, if you are reading this_.

Sherman started to put it back in the manual, but he realized with a start that the back of the paper had writing on it too. He showed it to Penny, and she looked at him confused, as if to ask what it meant. He shrugged his shoulders, and the both of them looked silently over the paper.

It read: _4-26-25-26-24 9-22-7-6-9-13. _


	6. Back to the Courtroom

_Thank you The-DetectiveSmartie, OCGirl94, Elsa Accel Ravenclaw, RC and Indri08 for your reviews! Thank you also to everyone who followed, favorited and/or read this story :D_

CHAPTER SIX

Mr. Peabody ran, holding tightly to Sherman.

He was too concerned about Sherman to slow down, and he took great pains to ignore the boy's protestations. No matter _how _loud they were.

Round the corner, out the hallway, to the left of the stairs-Mr. Peabody knew where he was going, even if Sherman didn't.

It took all Mr. Peabody had to keep quiet. Not that Sherman was doing the same thing; on the contrary, the boy was making as much noise as possible. As if that would do him any good in this state! But Peabody didn't have the time to tell him that. He only had time to keep going. After the stairs, he needed to go left again and then right. He had to hurry through the door, in case his calculations were off by a few milliseconds.

Sherman pulled again. The boy had no idea what was going on. But that didn't stop Mr. Peabody. He held tightly to the boy with one hand, and the other hand held tightly to Sherman's things. He couldn't afford to let go and lose anything from either hand, not in the state they were in. So he merely tightened his hold on both hands, especially the one holding Sherman, and hurried to get where he was going.

He only had a limited window of opportunity. If only Sherman understood that!

Mr. Peabody had reached his destination, but the time was running out.

This was not the time for a lecture. He was going to do whatever he needed to do, to take care of his son.

That's what Fathers are for.

* * *

"Now," said Mrs. Peterson, pulling the car into the driveway, "As soon as you both go inside, I want you to get your pajamas on and get into bed. No talking. Got that?"

Sherman and Penny nodded, and as soon as the car had come to a complete stop, they exited the vehicle.

"And _never _do that again!" Mrs. Peterson said, "Got that?"

They nodded again, and proceeded inside. Soon enough Mrs. Peterson was satisfied that they were in bed, but as soon as Mr. Peterson came home and his wife went to speak with him, Penny snuck out of her room and crept into Sherman's.

"Alright," she said, dropping Peabody's book from the library next to the WABAC manual on the dresser, "Let's find out what that code says."

"I've been thinking about that, Penny," said Sherman, "And I think it's two words. See? The code says, 4-26-25-26-24 9-22-7-6-9-13. But there's no hyphen between the 24 and the 9!"

"So it isn't a date then," said Penny.

"Of course not!" said Sherman, "It's clearly a code."

"You know, Sherman," said Penny, "When we first looked at the other side of that paper, I could have sworn this side didn't have any writing on it."

"That's strange," said Sherman, "You must have imagined it."

"I guess," said Penny, "But Sherman, some weird stuff has been happening. Who emailed Mr. Williams that we were coming to the bank, and who ordered pizza for us? I think-yes, I think it was your dad both times, Sherman."

"That's impossible," said Sherman, "Mr. Peabody is stuck in another time, Penny. You saw your parent's faces when we told them about the pizza. They think a stranger ordered it for us."

"Wake up and smell the roses, Sherman! It was your dad. The pizza man said so."

"But why wouldn't he tell us where he is, huh Penny?" Sherman asked, raising his voice, "Why would he send us pizza instead of a clue?"

"Maybe the pizza _was _the clue!" Penny yelled, "Did you ever think of that, smartiepants?"

"Don't call me that!" Sherman retorted.

At that moment, the bedroom door opened. Both children immediately stopped arguing, and found themselves facing both the Peterson parents. They both tried to look as small as possible, but it was too late. They had been spotted.

"It seems that you two don't understand the words 'stay in bed,'" Mrs. Peterson said.

"It's just as well," Mr. Peterson sighed, "The two of you need to change out of your pj's. We're heading back to court."

"What?" Penny asked, "Why? It's the middle of the night!"

"The court is concerned with your safety, Sherman," Mr. Peterson said, "We'll see what happens when we get there."

Behind these words, however, Sherman could tell that Mr. Peterson knew what was happening.

"Hurry up now!" Said Mrs. Peterson, "We're meeting in the car."

Within minutes, the house was abandoned and everyone was in the car. Sherman had brought along the WABAC manual and an extra notebook and pencil.

"Let's try to figure out this code, Penny," he said, choosing to forget their argument.

"What kind of code?" Mr. Peterson asked from the driver's seat.

"Um, a really hard one," said Penny, "It's all numbers."

"Let your mom see," said Mr. Peterson, "She's an old hand at codes."

Sherman passed up the code to Mrs. Peterson, who looked at it intently.

"Well," she said, "It seems to me that each number stands for a different letter of the alphabet."

"We kinda knew that," said Penny, "Since we know that it stands for two words."

Mrs. Peterson handed the page back to Sherman. "Then go ahead and try figuring it out from there," she said, "Codes are the most fun if you can crack them yourself."

Sherman and Penny looked at the code once more. 4-26-25-26-24 9-22-7-6-9-13.

"Well, there are 26 letters of the alphabet," Sherman said, "So all the 26's are Z's."

"Then," said Penny, "If every 26 is a Z, the 25 is a Y."

"So," said Sherman, "That means that a letter 1 is the same as an A."

"Let's decode it right now!" Penny said.

She quickly scribbled on Sherman's notebook, writing out the entire alphabet from A to Z. Underneath it, Sherman wrote out the letters 1 to 26. Finally, the two of them translated the code.

"This doesn't make sense," said Penny, frowning.

"We must have done something wrong." said Sherman.

What they had translated was complete and utter nonsense. It read: DZYZX IVGFIM.

"Mom, we did something wrong!" said Penny.

"Perhaps it is a different code, then." said Mrs. Peterson.

"So, the alphabet is wrong?" Penny asked, looking over the paper again with Sherman.

"We're here," said Mr. Peterson, putting the car in park.

"I guess we'll have to finish this later," said Sherman, closing the notebook.

"We'd better take this with us, just in case," Penny said, taking the notebook from Sherman as she got out of the car.

"Good idea," said Sherman, "And I'll take the manual too. I don't want anyone else to find it."

"What manual?" Mr. Peterson asked.

"One his dad gave to him," Penny explained.

"Oh. Well then, Sherman, that's perfectly fine." Mr. Peterson said, "Now let's hurry up and get inside, before we're late."

A short time later, they were all seated in the courtroom. Sherman was dismayed to see that Mr. Whiner, the annoying billionaire, was also seated in the courtroom.

"Mr. Peterson," said the Judge, "I understand that Sherman ran away today."

"No, your honor," said Mr. Peterson, "I assure you he had no intention of _running _away. He went with my daughter on a walk."

"Without telling you where he was going," said the Judge, "Is this true, Sherman?"

"Yes sir," said Sherman, who was half occupied with the code inside the notebook he was holding, "I didn't mean to go so far, your honor sir."

"Be that as it may," said the Judge, "Mr. Peterson asked for a bodyguard for the boy. Care to explain, Mr. Peterson?"

"A stranger sent them food," said Mr. Peterson, "I was concerned that someone was following them."

"Hm," said the Judge, "I don't need to tell you all that this has alarmed the court not a little."

Sherman opened the notebook in front of him, the motion hidden from the view of the Judge by the back of the seat in front of him. Penny jabbed him with her elbow, telling him to pay attention; but he ignored her.

"It has also come to the attention of the court," said the Judge, "That Sherman has talked to Mr. Williams, the banker."

"That is correct," said Mr. Peterson, "Mr. Williams has informed us of that encounter."

"You mean you weren't with him?" The Judge asked, curiously.

Sherman's eyes strayed to the writing in the notebook. The words DZYZX IVGFIM started to look to him like a second code, instead of nonsense.

"No your honor," said Mr. Peterson, "But we knew that he was going to the bank. Our daughter sent us a text message on her way there."

Penny sat up straight, and took away Sherman's pencil.

_No I didn't,_ she wrote into his notebook.

Sherman's eyes grew wide.

"But no one told you he was going to the apartment afterwards," the Judge said.

"That is correct, your honor," said Mr. Peterson.

Sherman looked at the code in his notebook. What if this was the inverted alphabet code, the same one that Mr. Peabody had used earlier? He began to write out the alphabet inside the notebook from A to Z, and underneath that, he wrote out the alphabet again from Z to A.

He chose to ignore what was happening in the courtroom, despite Penny constantly poking him with her elbow.

With his heart beating fast, he began to decode the two words. As soon as the first word was decoded, he knew that he was on the right track.

Because the first word was _WABAC_.

Filled with confidence, he translated the second word and elbowed Penny to get her attention. She looked over the words with him, and gasped.

"What does it mean?" she whispered.

The words were: _WABAC RETURN_.

"And that is why," the Judge said, his voice cutting through Sherman's thoughts, "The court hereby awards custody of Sherman to Mr. Edwin Whiner, effective immediately."

"What?" cried several people at once, the loudest of them being Sherman himself.

"NO!" he cried.

"As the court has just explained," the Judge said, "The misuse of your money from the bank proves that you cannot handle your own finances. And it is clear that the Petersons cannot properly care-"

"But I _can _take care of the money!" Sherman said, not hearing the part about the Petersons, "I did so at the bank!"

"Yes, and now the country has to deal with inflation," said the Judge, "But you wouldn't know about that, Sherman. You see, too much money released at once actually lowers the value and raises the cost of-"

"I know what inflation is!" Sherman interrupted, "Mr. Peabody taught me!"

"Well," said the Judge, "The court has decided that Mr. Edwin Whiner is the best suited to care for you, financially and otherwise. The Peterson's can send over your things as soon as possible. Mr. Whiner? Ah, there you are. Take good care of the boy. Dismissed."

"NO!" Sherman shouted, "I'm not going with him!"

"He's not!" Penny said, grabbing onto Sherman as if her life depended on it.

"Nonsense," said Mr. Whiner, "We're leaving now, Sherman. Get off him, little girl, before I call security."

Someone moved to grab Penny, but at that moment the lights went out.

"Hey!" Penny shouted.

"Someone turn the lights back on!"

"Who turned them off? Is someone standing with their back to the light switch again?"

"Quickly, somebody, open the windows! I can't see a thing!"

"It's night, you fool! And there's no moon out there."

"Doesn't anyone have a flashlight app on their cell phone?"

"I think I do. But where's my cellphone?"

While all of this commotion was going on, Sherman felt Penny let go of him.

"Don't let go!" he said, but it was as if she couldn't hear him. Perhaps it was too noisy in there.

Someone with a cold hand grabbed Sherman firmly by the wrist and pulled him up, and then began leading him quickly away.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sherman said, his eyes not used to the dark, "Who's pulling me? Let go!"

Whoever was pulling him only tightened the grip, and yanked the struggling Sherman out of the courtroom.

"Help!" Sherman called out, placing all his weight against moving forward, "Let go!"

But the grip continued to lead him past obstacles and around turns with astonishing rapidity. As he went who knows where, Sherman continued to try yanking his way out of the grip. Suddenly he found himself tumbling to a halt, and all of a sudden it was as if all the sound had come back into the world. He became aware that somewhere in the distance people were shouting.

"He's gone!" someone called, "Find him, find him!"

"Sherman!" He heard Mrs. Peterson call, "Sherman! Come back here!"

Sherman stood up and fumbled around, trying to find out where he was or, at least, where his mysterious puller had gone. He suddenly seemed to be all alone.

"Hello?" He whispered, "Where are you?"

His fingers brushed up against a light switch, and when it turned on he found himself alone in a janitor's closet.

That wasn't right. The person who had pulled him into the closet had gone in first.

"Sherman!" A voice called out, and Sherman quickly turned off the light to avoid being seen, "Sherman! Where are you?"

At that point Sherman realized he didn't want to be found. He didn't want to go with Edwin Whiner. He wanted to stay with the Petersons and find Mr. Peabody. Mr. Peabody would know what to do, and then everything would be alright again.

Someone jiggled the knob of his door, but apparently it was locked. The person then continued down the hallway. "Sherman!"

Something rolled into Sherman's foot. With a start he jumped back; but then he realized it wasn't alive.

He tentatively reached down where the object was, and realized to his delight that it was a flashlight.

So he clicked it on, and once more looked around him. There was no room for another person to hide in here, so that was alright. He really was alone. The flashlight must have fallen off a shelf or something. He shined the light towards the door, and saw that it locked from the inside. That was great! He could unlock it later.

Then the flashlight caught something on the floor that he knew shouldn't be there. It was the WABAC manual, and his notebook! He thought he had lost them back in the scuffle in the courtroom.

Someone else ran by the door calling his name.

"Well," said Sherman to himself, "I might as well read while I wait until I can sneak out."

He opened the manual, and began to read it. After ten minutes of reading, he gasped.

"_The WABAC Return_," he read. Without reading the rest of the sentence, he looked up from the manual and opened his notebook. At the bottom of the page was the decoded message, which read the same thing: _WABAC RETURN._


	7. Trouble

_Once again, a big thank you to everyone who has favorited or followed this story! Also, thank you to OCgirl94, bleazel158, RC, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, Dreamcatcher-Megan and Jasoomian-Panthan for your reviews! And thank you everyone who is reading this story, just for the sake of reading it :) Constructive criticism is more than welcome! _

CHAPTER SEVEN

Mr. Peabody frowned as he watched his son toss and turn in the bed.

_Oh Sherman_, he thought. He felt as if this was all his fault. Of course it wasn't, but that was how he felt.

He reached out and placed his hand on the boy's forehead, hoping that it would somehow help his son-even though he knew that Sherman would not be able to know that he was doing it.

Mr. Peabody opened his mouth to speak, hoping to comfort his boy, but thought better of it. Instead he reached out and stroked Sherman's shoulder. Suppressing a sigh, he thought of all the things he _used _to do whenever Sherman needed comforting. Perhaps he'd hold him in his arms, or get him a bottle of milk. Sometimes he read him a book. Chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, plain toast, very little water-and a popsicle or two.

Once, when Sherman was _very _sick, he had insisted on Peabody giving him a makeshift puppet show. Peabody had been told to play all of the barnyard animals, _except _for the dog, which Sherman had insisted on doing himself.

Then there was that time when Peabody had been sick. Little Sherman hadn't known what to do then.

"Mr. Peba?" he had asked, "Don't you wanna pway?"

"Sherman," Mr. Peabody had said, "I am not feeling well today, so I cannot pway-I mean play-with you right now."

"Why not?" Sherman had asked.

Mr. Peabody had finally decided to put some fire in the fireplace, and had curled up in front of it to fall asleep. Sherman decided to join him, and had curled up against Mr. Peabody. It had been pretty comfortable for both of them.

Mr. Peabody pulled himself out of his memories, and once more kept watch over his son.

But even this would soon pass.

And until it did, Peabody promised himself that he would help out Sherman as best he could.

* * *

"What _is_ the WABAC Return?" Sherman asked himself, closing his notebook.

He picked up the WABAC manual and turned to the same page where he first saw the corresponding word.

"_In the event that there is a problem with the temporal displacement of the WABAC,_" he read, _"The WABAC Return will the-or-et-ically_," here Sherman phonetically pronounced this long word, "_bring the WABAC back to_..."

Sherman smiled as he silently read the last words.

"This is perfect!" He said, "This will bring him back from wherever-he-is!"

He stood up and gave a small closet dance before sitting back down, cross-legged, to finish reading that section of the book.

Suddenly his smile fell.

"Wait," he said, "Where is it?" He turned back to the book.

"_This device," _he read, _"Can easily be made from household objects. However, I have not yet built a prototype-" _Sherman turned the page.

"It doesn't say how to build the WABAC Return," he said, disappointed.

He flipped through that page to the next, but there was nothing. He scoured the whole book, then started over at the beginning and read it over again. But the result was the same. Nothing.

"That can't be right," he said, "there has to be a way to build it!"

He pulled his knees up to his face and thought.

"Penny might have an idea," he said, "If I can get to her, that is."

He turned to the closet door. It had been very quiet outside for some time now, so it might be a good idea for him to sneak out of the building.

Ever so quietly, he unlocked the door and turned the doorknob. He stuck his head out to see whether or not the coast was clear, and as soon as he knew that it was he grabbed his notebook and manual and walked out the door.

It was night, and so very dark. He had left the flashlight in the closet, and so had to find his own way out of the building.

It was harrowing work, and it took a while. Once or twice he thought he heard someone following him, but he knew that it was just his imagination.

"Alright, Sherman," he told himself, "You're almost out."

Finally, he had found an exit. He pushed it, and it opened without struggle. So he walked out of the building and into the darkness outside, and slowly made his way to the Peterson house.

That walk was even scarier than the dark building. But he made it safely at last, and found his way to Penny's window. Picking up a few stones, he threw them against the windowpane. Penny soon opened the window.

"Who's there?" She asked.

"It's me!" Sherman replied, "Can I come in?"

"Back door," she replied, and shut the window. As soon as Sherman entered the house, Penny grabbed his wrist.

"Sherman!" She whispered to him as she dragged him into the basement, where they could talk secretly, "What happened to you? You look awful!"

"I walked here from the courthouse," Sherman said, "It isn't as fun at night. But guess what! I discovered the code!"

"You mean the WABAC Return?" Penny asked, "I saw you write that in your notebook before the lights went out. Is that why you ran away?"

"I didn't run away, Penny," Sherman said, "Someone dragged me out of the room and hid me in a closet."

"Really?" said Penny, "Who did that?"

"I don't know," said Sherman, "But I'm glad someone did. I don't like Edwin Whiner."

"Nobody does," Penny said, agreeing completely, "So about the code?"

"Oh!" said Sherman, opening up the WABAC manual, "The WABAC Return is really cool. It talks about it here in the manual. It's made to bring the WABAC back from...from wherever it is."

"Sherman, that's amazing!" said Penny, "Just what we need!"

"Yeah," said Sherman, "But there's a problem. It's not build yet, and this book doesn't have any instructions."

"What about the other book?" Penny asked, "The library book?"

"I didn't think of that," said Sherman, "But how could it be in there?"

"Maybe it's in code somewhere," said Penny, her eyes lighting up, "Stay here! I'll go get the book."

She disappeared, and reappeared shortly with the book written by P. Body.

"Alright," she said, "If the instructions aren't in the manual, they have to be in here."

"But where do we start?" Sherman asked.

"Anywhere, I guess," Penny said.

They looked at the table of contents.

"I think we should go to chapter six," Sherman said, "_Zoning issues and temporal displacement._"

"Let's look in chapter ten," said Penny, "_Mechanics: Knowing your time machine_."

"We'll look in both," said Sherman, turning first to chapter six.

After a few minutes of reading the page, Penny gasped.

"Look!" she pointed.

"_It's a good idea to have a return button at home,_" Sherman read, _"In case anything happens to your time machine. _That's it, Penny!"

"Yes!" said Penny, "Quickly, turn the page!"

They did so, but there was nothing about how to build the return button.

"Let's look at chapter ten," Penny said.

But there was nothing there either.

"Don't tell me he didn't put it in here!" Sherman groaned.

"He did, he must have," Penny said, "Remember? The note said that if you needed any help, _both_ books would be able to help you."

"But where should we look?" Sherman asked.

He opened the book and set it on the table. The pages turned by themselves back to chapter six.

"Sherman, why does this sentence look different from the others?" Penny asked, pointing.

"I don't know," said Sherman, "The words are smaller, I guess. Do you think that's a clue?"

"Why else would your dad make the letters stand out?" Penny smiled. "It doesn't make much sense."

Sherman read the sentence to himself.

_"The only barrier upon intrepid leaders daring to help educate wild and backward ancient civilizations remains eternally this: understanding remote nationalities goes onward towards only past accomplishments gathered; eventually, travelers withhold objectives."_

The page went on to explain, in normal letters, that giving certain kinds of knowledge to a nation before it was ready caused an enormous amount of problems.

"Wow," Sherman said, "Do you think it's saying why Mr. Peabody won't tell us where he is?"

"Maybe," said Penny, "But that doesn't explain why he wrote it smaller than the other words in the book."

"Hmm," said Sherman, putting his hand to his chin, "So how is that a clue? If it even _is _a clue?"

Penny was just about to say that yes, it was a clue, she had already told him so, when the basement lights turned on. For the second time that night, Penny and Sherman found themselves looking at Mr. and Mrs. Peterson. And they both looked more than a little mad.

"Uh oh," Sherman said.

"Sherman!" Mrs. Peterson said, "Why on earth did you run away tonight?"

"Don't you know how bad that looks for you?" Mr. Peterson asked, "And to show up back here, of all places! People are going to think we kidnapped you or something."

"What?" Sherman said, coming up the basement steps to speak with them, "No! I just...I can't go with Mr. Whiner."

"The court says you have to," said Mr. Peterson, "And if you don't, there could be consequences."

"But Penny and I are _so close _to finding Mr. Peabody!" Sherman said, "Can I pleeeeeeeeeease wait here until we find him again?"

Mr. Peterson sighed. "And when will that be?" He asked, "Sherman, as much as we'd like to be your guardians, we can't go against the law."

"Well," said Sherman, "Can't I ask the Judge to give me one more chance?"

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson looked at one another.

"I'm not sure you can," Mrs. Peterson said, "Sherman, I know this is hard on you, but you're going to have to go with Mr. Whiner."

"Wha-?" Sherman said, "No!"

"Listen Sherman," Mrs. Peterson said, bending down on one knee so that she was eye level with him, "You have to. We could be put in jail just because you're here with us. Now, do you really want that to happen?"

"No," Sherman sniffled.

"Come on," said Mr. Peterson, "Get your coat. We'll drive you to the police station."

"B-but dad," said Penny, "You said they can put you in jail!"

"Oh, I think the Chief will understand. He and I are old pals," said Mr. Peterson, "But still, we'd better be going."

Within half an hour, the four of them were standing inside a well-lit police station.

"Ah, Paul!" said one officer, "Long time no see!"

"Hello Chief Ebullient," said Mr. Peterson.

"What brings you and the family here so late at night?" The Chief asked, "Not trouble, I hope?"

"Sherman here," said Mr. Peterson, "Has been staying with us since his father...disappeared. Tonight the court awarded custody of him to someone else, but the boy...well, he ran away and came back to us."

"I see," said the Chief, "Sherman, was your new guardian hurting you?"

"No," said Sherman.

"Then why did you run away?" The Chief asked.

"Because-becauseheonlywantsmebecausemydadisrich," Sherman blurted out. At that moment, it was like a floodgate opened, and he began to tell the entire story. "I tried to tell the court I could handle my own money but they wouldn't listen, and I really want to just give it all away to people who need it, and I started doing that, but there was a problem and the court said I couldn't handle the money, and I really just want to wait for my dad to come back, and I'm trying to find him, and-"

"Calm down, young man!" said the Chief, "Is your dad away on a trip?"

"His father is Mr. Peabody." said Mr. Peterson,

Understanding shone clear on the Chief's face. "Well," he said, "That explains it. Who did the court appoint as your guardian?"

"Mr. Whiner," said Sherman.

"I see," said the Chief, who really did see, "And I take it you don't approve?"

"No!" said Sherman.

"Well," said the Chief, "I must admit, neither do I. But that doesn't change the law, my young man. You ran away from Mr. Whiner, and unfortunately you're going to have to go back, unless he's abusive. Do you understand that?"

Sherman nodded and mumbled incoherently, then kicked at an imaginary pebble on the clean police station floor.

"I'm going to have to give him a call," said the Chief, already reaching for the phone, "And it might be better if you say your good-byes now, before he gets here."

The Petersons apparently agreed, all but Penny.

"No!" she said, "You _can't _do this to him, you crook!"

"Penny!" scolded her father, "I'm so sorry, Chief. My daughter and Sherman are very close."

"That's alright," said the Chief sadly, sad at their predicament rather than the insult, "I understand completely."

The Petersons said their goodbyes, and to her credit it took five police officers to tear Penny away from Sherman. Sherman found himself held tightly by one of the police officers as he watched the others escort Penny, screaming and kicking, to the Peterson family car. Not that Sherman needed holding. On the contrary, he was perfectly still. He didn't want the Petersons to get into any trouble because of him.

A few seconds later the policemen walked back into the station.

"The little girl says these are Sherman's," one of them said, and he gave Sherman the WABAC manual, the library book and the notebook.

Sherman didn't pay much attention to what was going on around him for a while. He was aware that the policemen were trying to entertain him, and he managed to smile a little for their efforts, but he really didn't want to do anything except hold onto his father's manual and his father's book. It seemed to him that going with this new guardian was just as good as saying that his father _was _gone forever.

After a long time, Sherman suddenly realized that someone was talking to him. He looked up to find himself face to face with Mr. Edwin Whiner, who roughly grabbed him by the arm and stood him up from the chair.

"Up you get!" he said, "Shame on you for running away! You're going to have so much fun at your new house. We're going to your new room, and tomorrow you can play in the pool. Whichever pool you want. The one with waves is really fun, you know." He chuckled. "And now I have enough money to build whatever you want, you know. A roller coaster, maybe?"

"No!" Sherman said, wrenching himself out of the man's arms. The Petersons weren't here anymore, so there was no need for him to hold back. "I won't go with you!" he shouted.

Despite the fact that the station was full of policemen, none of them came to the rescue of Edwin Whiner when Sherman shockingly ran away from him.

"Hey!" he shouted, "Get back here, kid!"

One or two policemen conveniently stepped into Mr. Whiner's way, unfortunately blocking Sherman from view. Sherman took that opportunity to run out the front door, where a cab was waiting.

"Here now!" said the cab driver when Sherman ran into the car, "Are you Sherman?"

"Yes!" Sherman said.

"Oh, that's alright then," said the cab driver, "You're the one I was sent to pick up."

Sherman was just about to ask who sent for him, when the cab door was wrenched open, and Mr. Whiner stuck his head inside.

"You naughty brat!" He said, "Running away from me like that!"

"Hey!" said the cab driver, "This kid's my fare."

"He's a little young for a customer, isn't he?" Mr. Whiner said mockingly, "Get out of the car, kid."

"Listen," said the cab driver, "I don't know _who _you are, mister, but this kid's dad called me and asked to pick him up."

"Impossible!" said Mr. Whiner, grabbing hold of Sherman and yanking him forcibly out of the cab. "_I'm _his legal guardian. His father's dead."

"No he isn't!" Sherman shouted, at the top of his lungs, resisting Mr. Whiner to the best of his ability.

But despite all his protests, Sherman found himself soon seated in a fancy limousine, speeding to Mr. Whiner's house.

He really wished he was back in that cab. He didn't even get to say good-bye to the Chief before he was whisked away.

That night, after Mr. Whiner finally left him alone in a bedroom so large it looked like there could be several people hidden in the corners, Sherman took a deep breath and opened up his notebook.

_Keep up the Search_, he read, in Penny's handwriting.

"That's right," he whispered, "Penny wants me to figure this out."

He sniffled, and turned to the page in the library book with the strange sentence. He re-read it again:

_The only barrier upon intrepid leaders daring to help educate wild and backward ancient civilizations remains eternally this: understanding remote nationalities goes onward towards only past accomplishments gathered; eventually, travelers withhold objectives._

"Hmm," he said, "What does it _mean_?"

A large grandfather clock which kept time in the corner suddenly chimed, startling him. He curled further into the covers of the bed and shivered.

"I don't like it here," he whispered. He wanted to go home.

But the windows were all locked, and he already knew that the bedroom door was locked too.

Something touched his shoulder, but when he turned around there was nothing there. So he shivered again, even though he knew he had imagined it. It was probably just some nerve misfiring in his shoulder. Mr. Peabody had taught him a little about that.

But just in case someone else was in the room with him, Sherman carefully took his books and hid them under the covers. There was no way that he would let anyone come and take them in his sleep.

"Mr. Peabody," he whispered out loud, "I want to go home. Where _are _you?"

He tossed and turned for a little while. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he jerked awake. He pulled out the library book from under the covers and held it up to the light of the lamp, which in all honesty he had never turned off, since the room was better with it on.

"Wait a minute," he said, looking at the funny sentence in the book again, "I think I got it!"

With a small laugh he re-read the sentence, and then turned to the page it indicated.


	8. Runaway

_Thank you Guest, Dreamcatcher-Megan, RC, Spring-Heel-Jacq and bleazel158 for your reviews! Once again, thank you to everyone reading this story, and everyone who followed or faved it! A/N: Sorry about the wait. Life is starting to get crazy again. I will probably come back to this chapter later and edit it more fully, but I wanted to get it out for you guys now. :D  
_

CHAPTER EIGHT

"And that, Sherman, is how to properly balance a checkbook," Mr. Peabody finished.

Sherman laughed, clapping wildly. "Not on your head, Mr. Peabody!" He said, "That's not how you do it!"

Mr. Peabody grinned sheepishly, and took the checkbook off the top of his head.

"Hmm, it seems a member of the audience believes he knows better than I, the Great Artist Peabody, about my very own art," said Peabody, twirling his cape, "What should I do? I know! A challenge! You sir, in the red shirt! I challenge you! Come here, on stage, if you dare to accept!"

Sherman, being the only person with a red shirt in the audience-in fact, being the only person in the audience at all-was quick to get off his chair and run up to Mr. Peabody.

"First," said Mr. Peabody, making the checkbook disappear out of one hand, "I must inform you that this is no ordinary challenge!"

The checkbook reappeared in the other hand, even though Sherman could clearly see that neither hand had been remotely near the other.

"This is a challenge of wisdom and courage, bravery and intelligence!" Mr. Peabody said, "Sherman! Do you still accept this challenge?"

"Yes! Yes yes yes!" Sherman announced, bouncing up and down.

"Are you ready?" Mr. Peabody asked.

"I can do it, Mr. Peabody!" Sherman said.

"Then, by all means, let us begin!" said Mr. Peabody, with a flourish of his arms and a twirl of his cape, "Now! See if you can _properly _balance this checkbook!"

"That's easy!" Sherman announced, and he grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil that Peabody held before him, "This is how you _really _do it, Mr. Peabody!"

Mr. Peabody smiled and nodded, then watched with pleasure as Sherman performed the math lesson.

* * *

_Present Day_

It was not late night anymore, but early morning as Sherman turned the pages of Mr. Peabody's book.

"Wait until I tell Penny," he whispered to himself, "It's the first letter of each word in the sentence!"

Penny might have been very surprised. Or she might have discovered it before Sherman did. Either way, Sherman was going to share this with her as soon as possible: the secret message within the sentence read,_ T__o build the WABAC Return go to page two._

"Alright," he said to himself as he reached the second page, "Let's see how to build this thing."

The page began as follows:

_Granted, previous master makers petitioned Xandler's unhindered intellectual fallacies too freely. Just outside this unhindered system, various deuterotravelers-under jurisdictions possibly obtainable to determined beginners-systematically favored gigantic variations. Many makers zeroed…_

He stopped there, and looked at the page before to understand what the paragraph was talking about. Apparently, it was all about the history of time machines and how they were made.

"Oh no!" he said, disappointed. "Mr. Peabody, why do you have to _hide _these things so well?"

He stared again at the page. This looked like it didn't have anything to do with the WABAC return at all.

"This is definitely not a normal sentence, even for Mr. Peabody," he said, "But what does it _mean_?"

Sherman continued to ponder that question for a long time, until finally his eyes closed and, without wanting to, he fell sound asleep. The next thing he knew, somebody was shaking him.

"Go away, Penny," he muttered, going deeper into the covers, "It isn't morning yet. Go back to sleep."

The shaking continued, but just as Sherman felt that the person shaking him was losing vigor, a giant _CRASH _next to his ear sent him to his feet.

"What happened?" He shouted, "Where am I?"

Suddenly it all came back to him. Penny wasn't there, and neither were Mr. or Mrs. Peterson. He was in the house of Edwin Whiner, the billionaire. And he was to all appearances alone in a giant bedroom.

There was a broken vase on the floor.

Sherman shivered, and collected his only things-Mr. Peabody's book, the WABAC instruction manual and his notebook. If someone else was in the room hiding from him, he wasn't leaving the room without his only clues to find Mr. Peabody.

"Hello?" He asked, "Is anybody there?"

There was no answer. So Sherman got up and investigated the entire room, finally discovering that yes, the bedroom was still locked from the outside, and yes, he really _was _alone.

Suddenly the doorknob jiggled, and somebody unlocked it.

"Sherman, I'm coming in!" Mr. Whiner said, opening the door.

As soon as he saw Sherman out of the bed, with his day clothes on-since he had never taken them off for bed the night before-Mr. Whiner smiled.

"Aha!" He said, "I _told_ you he would be up by this time."

The person he was speaking to was apparently standing right behind him, for at that moment a second person stuck his head into Sherman's room.

"Very good, very good!" The stranger said, "I see you were right. The boy is indeed responsible."

"Um, thanks?" Sherman asked meekly, still a little embarrassed at having been caught unawares so early by a complete stranger, and by Mr. Whiner, who was as good as a stranger.

"Indeed, I think the boy can safely handle his own financial affairs," said the stranger, "Considering what his plans for the money were at the bank, if what Mr. Williams the banker says is true."

"Really?" said Sherman, "I can do it by myself now?"

"Certainly, boy! Well, you have my approval, Mr. Whiner," the stranger said, scratching something on a piece of paper and handing it to Whiner, "I think that I will be leaving now."

"The maids will show you to the door," said Mr. Whiner, taking the paper, "Thank you for stopping by."

"Not a problem," said the stranger, "Take good care of your money, my boy!" He said to Sherman, and then he left down the hallway, presumably the same way he had come.

What had just happened?

"Well," said Mr. Whiner, "Thank heavens you were awake, Sherman. Now we can go right away to get the papers signed."

"What papers?" Sherman asked, "Who was that man?"

"You'll see soon enough," Mr. Whiner said, stepping into the room to grab Sherman by the upper arm, "Now follow me."

Sherman, who was still holding onto the manual, the book and the notebook, followed Whiner's lead more out of curiosity than obedience. They went through many hallways and corridors, until finally they came to the roof and sat inside a helicopter. A short while later and they were inside Peabody's bank, with Mr. Williams sitting across from them at the table.

"Sherman," said Mr. Williams, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Before Sherman could ask what "this" was, Mr. Whiner interrupted.

"Yes, of course he does!" he snapped, "He said so this morning."

"Then let me hear him now," said Mr. Williams, "For the sake of legality, if nothing else. Well, Sherman?"

"I don't know," Sherman said, "What are we doing?"

"Sherman!" Mr. Williams said, secretly kicking his foot at the boy under the table, "Children have such bad memories sometimes, Mr. Willabee."

"Williams." Mr. Williams corrected.

"Whatever," said Mr. Whiner, "The point is, since Sherman is permanently under my care, this merger would be most beneficial to my raising him."

"What do you mean?" Sherman asked.

"This," said Mr. Whiner, tearing a paper away from Mr. Williams and pushing it in front of Sherman. "All you have to do is sign it," he said helpfully.

"Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to," Mr. Williams said, perhaps even more helpfully.

"Umm," Sherman said, looking at the piece of paper, "What does it mean?"

"It means," said Mr. Williams, "That everything you own belongs to Mr. Whiner, to do with as he sees best."

"Which means," said Mr. Whiner, "That you can have anything you want as soon as you sign that paper. I will be able to grant you your every wish. Think of that, Sherman! Whatever you want."

"But it's all mine anyway," Sherman said, confused, "Until Mr. Peabody gets back."

Mr. Whiner's face grew red.

"You're too young," he said, "Although several people have certified that you can handle your own finances-the social worker you met this morning being the final, decisive voice-you still need training before you're ready for Wall Street. Just sign the paper, and I will do all the hard work for you. It will be so much easier that way."

"No," said Sherman, pushing away the paper, "It isn't mine. It belongs to Mr. Peabody, so I can't sign it."

"Yes, you will!" said Mr. Whiner, forgetting that Mr. Williams was also in the room, "Don't you know what's _good_ for you!"

"Yes!" Sherman shouted, standing up, "And I'm not going to sign it!" He held tightly onto the WABAC manual, Peabody's book and his notebook-indeed, he had never put them down and had them in his arms the entire time-and ran from the table.

"Sherman!" Mr. Whiner called out, "Where are you going? Waterloo, I want the entire bank staff to bring him back!"

"That's Williams," said Mr. Williams, "Leave the boy alone, Mr. Whiner. We both know-"

Sherman heard no more, because he was now beyond earshot.

"I won't let them take away your money, Mr. Peabody," he whispered out loud to himself as he ran down the hallway. He really wished he had a backpack or something for the books in his arms.

Where was he going? Who could he turn to?

He still needed to make sure that Mr. Peabody could come home. He _needed _to make the WABAC return. And he needed to solve the puzzle in order to do so. Penny could help him with that.

"Right," he said, "So I need to get to Penny."

That won't be easy, he mused as he ran out the back door of the bank. Mr. Whiner, or anybody for that matter, might be expecting him to go back to the Petersons. So he would have to find Penny in secret. How was he going to do that?

He ran into an alleyway and held himself tightly against the wall. Suddenly he came up with an idea. A crazy, ridiculous idea, that just might work.

"Mr. Peabody?" Sherman whispered as soon as he was certain everything was quiet, "Are you there?"

There was no answer.

"Someone has been helping me and Penny," Sherman said out loud, "And the pizza man and cab driver said that you sent them. I don't know if it's really you, or someone pretending to be you, but even if you aren't Mr. Peabody I could really use your help right now. I think you always know where I am, and what's going on. Can you get Penny to meet me at the penthouse? I would really, _really _appreciate it."

There was no answer, which was disappointing.

"Right," he said to himself after standing there for a few minutes, "I gotta get out of here."

He raced out of the alley and down the street, across the plaza and through a doughnut shop. After making several twists and turns, just in case someone was following him, he ended up at Peabody's penthouse apartment.

No soon did the elevator door open than he saw her.

"Penny!" He cried out in relief.

"Sherman!" She said, running up to him, "I came as soon as I got your text. What's going on?"

"You're here!" he said, grabbing her tight, "Penny, I'm so glad to see you! Mr. Whiner left me all alone in a giant bedroom, and-"

"That's it?" she said, letting him hug her, "_That _was why you texted me?"

"No, I didn't text you," he said, "Mr. Peabody did. Or at least, I _think_ he did."

"What are you talking about?" Penny asked, "It came from _your _cell phone."

"I don't have my cell phone, I left it at your house," Sherman said, "Penny, listen. I think my dad really _has _been helping us out. Remember the pizza man? Well, I almost ran away from Mr. Whiner last night, and there was a cab waiting for me. The driver said my dad sent him to pick me up!"

"Really?" Penny asked.

"Yes!" Sherman said, "I ran away from him again today at the bank, and I asked Mr. Peabody to help bring you here."

"Wait. If your dad has been helping us, then why won't he tell us where he is? Or how to solve the codes?" Penny asked.

"I don't know," Sherman said, "I still can't figure that out. Let's build the WABAC return and ask him when he gets here."

"Right," said Penny, "Did you figure out that weird sentence yet?"

"Sure did!" Sherman said, very pleased. He opened the library book, and set it down on the floor.

"Look," he said, "Read the first letter of each word."

"It says to go to page two," Penny said, after a short silence.

"So I did," Sherman said, opening to page two. "But I can't figure out how this page tells us to build the return thingy."

"Hmm," said Penny, "Maybe this is solved just like the weird sentence."

She began to spell out the first letters of each word, one by one: "G-P-M-M-P-X-"

"It's just gibberish, Penny. You don't need to spell out the whole page." Sherman said.

"Then how_ do _we solve it?" Penny asked.

"I don't know!" Sherman said, "Maybe the instructions aren't in the words."

"That's ridiculous," Penny said, "You said there can't be any invisible ink, remember? The words are the only thing on the page."

"Well, maybe there is another page two," Sherman said, and he carefully started to investigate the book for an extra page.

"Really, Sherman?" Penny asked, "I'm not sure even _you _know what that means."

Suddenly the phone in the penthouse rang, breaking the silence surrounding the apartment.

"I'll get it!" Penny said, jumping up.

"Penny, wait!" Sherman said, "Don't answer it!"

But it was too late. Penny had already picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She asked, "Hello?"

She turned to Sherman, and he ran up to join her. "Don't worry Sherman, it's all static," she said, waving the phone at him, "See? No one's here."

"Penny," Sherman said, "Can you hear that?"

Through the penthouse telephone, the two children slowly heard the voice of Mr. Whiner come out of the static.

"That's right," he said, "We're sure he's inside the penthouse, with a member of the Peterson family. How soon will you be there?"

"Who is he talking to?" Penny asked.

"Shuuuuuuush!" Sherman whispered, "You're on the phone!"

"ETA at about twenty minutes," replied another voice, "We'll have all our squad cars surrounding the building within seconds of arrival."

"I don't think they can hear us," Penny said, but she was now whispering as well.

"Excellent," said Mr. Whiner, responding to the other voice, "Be sure to make it fast."

"Of course we will, sir," replied the other voice, "We'll have the boy back and the kidnapper in jail before the hour is up, Mr. Whiner. But we need to move without attracting suspicion."

"They think that you kidnapped me!" Sherman said, just as Penny pressed the button that ended the call.

"We have to move fast, Sherman," she said, "They're almost here!"

"Penny," said Sherman, "I don't know how to activate the penthouse security system. They can just walk right up the elevator!"

"Then we'll just have to find the instructions to build the WABAC Return as fast as we can," Penny said, "What does page two say again?"

* * *

A/N: Don't take Sherman and Penny's assumptions too seriously! There really is a way to unravel page two. But you might have to work a little to figure it out. ;)


	9. Solving the Puzzle

_A special thank you to TheMagicMaker, OCGirl94, RC, bleazel158, Jacq, Guest, Tomoe-Chii and awsomsause for your reviews! Thank you also to everyone who followed and faved this story, and everyone reading it! _

_A special note: Before you read further, this is your last chance to crack the puzzle from the previous chapter.  
_

CHAPTER NINE

Mr. Peabody slowly walked through the door and into the WABAC machine.

"Finally," he said as he sat down in the chair, feeling very exhausted. He placed his hands almost lovingly on the panels of the machine.

"I remember the day Sherman and I took that first trip," he said, "I will never forget that look in his eyes...I remember the day I first dreamed of you, and the day I first started building you, with Sherman nearby in his cradle. You are my second-greatest triumph in life."

He chuckled, and slowly swiveled his chair to face the other direction. The direction where Sherman approximately was.

"That boy is resourceful," he said, "Perhaps he learned something from me after all."

His expert hearing picked up what Sherman and his friend Penny were saying, even though they were far above him. He listened very quietly, until he was satisfied that they were almost ready.

"I'd better get started," Peabody said out loud to himself. He turned around and started to prime the WABAC for travel. The machine hadn't been fully turned on in a while, to save power, but even so Mr. Peabody knew that it was almost ready to go.

"I have to remember to adjust the instruments," he reminded himself, already starting to adjust them even as he spoke.

He stopped and listened, frowning as he did so.

"Hm. This is a little too loose. And _this _is a little too tight," he said. He stopped and listened again.

"Much better!" He said, finishing the last adjustment, "You're ready now for the trip back, WABAC."

He sat down in the pilot's chair, and waited for the children to finish. His hands were held out in readiness, anticipating the controls of the WABAC, as if he would press them at any second.

"As soon as this is over, I'm going to take Sherman to see the gardens," Mr. Peabody resolved, "Just like I promised."

* * *

"Hurry, Sherman!" Penny said, "We only have about twenty minutes!"

"Penny," Sherman said, "What if the instructions for the WABAC Return aren't really in page two?"

"They have to be!" Penny said, "What does the page _say_?"

"It says," Sherman read, "_Granted, previous master makers petitioned Xandler's unhindered intellectual fallacies too freely. Just outside this unhindered system, various deuterotravelers-under jurisdictions possibly obtainable to determined beginners-systematically favored gigantic variations. Many makers zeroed-"_

"Wait," said Penny, "I just had an idea! What if this _is _like that weird sentence, and the first letter of every word is the clue?"

"What?" Sherman asked, "Penny, of course it's not. 'Gpmmpx' is not a word. We talked about this."

"Think about it, Sherman," said Penny, "Whenever your dad left us a clue, the next clue would be kinda like the first one. Like how the reverse alphabet was in the numbers code. Since the first clue was a first-letter puzzle, why can't this one be too?"

"But even with the reverse alphabet these letters don't make sense," said Sherman.

"Well," said Penny, "Who says that your dad always left the same code?"

Penny looked at Sherman, and Sherman looked at Penny.

"I'm going to Mr. Peabody's library to find a codebook," Sherman said, getting up.

"Good idea," said Penny, picking up Sherman's notebook, "While you're doing that, I'm going to write down the first letter of each word so that we can quickly translate it."

"Right," said Sherman.

Within minutes the two of them were at the table, looking through a book from one of Mr. Peabody's collections.

"We'd better be on the right track," Sherman pointed out, "We've only got fifteen minutes now."

"Then we should hurry," Penny said, opening up the book, "Codes, codes...ugh! How can we find out which code this is in less than fifteen minutes?"

"Do you think we'll find it?" Sherman asked.

"It can't be _that _hard," Penny said, "If he expected you to find it when he wrote it."

She didn't mean that as an insult, and luckily Sherman didn't even notice it.

"Codes, funny picture codes, squiggly line codes..." Sherman said, flipping through the pages.

"These are the right kind," Penny said, pointing to a section of the book where all the codes were in Roman characters, "But how can we try all of these codes without running out of time?"

"Let's try this one," Sherman said, "It's a block cipher. It looks really cool."

Quickly the two of them rewrote the letters of the first sentence of page two according to that code. But they were soon disappointed.

"Nope," Penny said, "This is an even worse mess than it was before."

"How about this one?" Sherman asked, "A paragraph-word-letter code."

"No way," said Penny, "You write that code in numbers, not letters."

"I've got it!" Sherman said, "It's a cryptograph!"

"Wait, a what?"

"You solve it by sliding the letters of the alphabet!" Sherman explained, "Let's see if this fits!"

He wrote down the letters_ gpmmpx._

"Let me try!" Penny said. She took Sherman's notebook and wrote down underneath it, _hqnnqy._

"What is that?" Sherman asked.

"I moved the letters over one space," Penny said, frowning, "But this isn't the right code, Sherman."

"Wait a minute!" Sherman said, "Maybe you were moving them the wrong way."

He rewrote the letters _gpmmpx_, and underneath them he moved each letter one space...to the left.

The result was that _gpmmpx _became the word _follow. _

"Sherman, you did it!" Penny said, hugging him in her excitement.

"Let's get the rest of it!" Sherman said. He sat down at the table and quickly decoded the first four hidden words.

"It says, _Follow these instructions carefully," _Penny read.

"If he's giving instructions, then you decode it," Sherman said, giving her the pencil, "I'll get anything we need to build the Return, since I know where everything is in my house."

"Got it," Penny said, sitting down. She started decoding the page.

"What's it say?" Sherman asked.

"Um, it says...to get a radio," Penny said, not daring to look up from her work.

Sherman raced into his bedroom and tore his old radio out from the wall.

"Now get an empty box of tissues!" Penny shouted.

"Got it!" Sherman said, stopping by the bathroom and emptying a tissue box, "What's next?"

"A big red button," Penny yelled.

Sherman ran into Mr. Peabody's room and opened a drawer full of big red buttons. He grabbed one and raced back to Penny.

"Here," he said, dumping the materials on the table, "What else?"

"Glue," she said, "A kitchen skillet, and a calender..."

The list seemed to go on forever as Sherman raced throughout the house, grabbing whatever materials Mr. Peabody had called for. Penny, meanwhile, began to turn the page and decode page three.

"And here's how we put it all together," she told Sherman as soon as he placed imitation peacock feathers down on the table.

After everything was put together just as Mr. Peabody's code had specified, there were still two more things to do before the machine was finished.

"It says here to input the WABAC frequency into the radio using the calculator," Penny said, "Then press the big red button."

"I'll get the code!" Sherman said. He raced into the kitchen and overturned the cookie jar, knowing the code was underneath.

"Sherman," Penny called him from the other room.

"What?" He said as he raced back.

"We've got company," Penny said, pointing out the window.

Many, many floors below them, the building was surrounded by blue and red flashing lights.

"Quick!" Sherman said, punching the numbers into the calculator, "Penny turn on the radio!"

Penny did, but the radio took its sweet time turning on, to Sherman's dismay.

"Hurry, turn on!" He called out to the radio.

"Sherman, I can hear the elevator!" Penny said.

"Come on!" Sherman said, "Yes!" The radio had finally started to work.

"The button!" Penny yelled.

Both children lunged for the big red button at the exact second that the elevator door opened. The button depressed under their weight, and the WABAC Return gave a small _click _noise. But to Sherman's surprise, there was no sign or flashing light to show that anything other than the _click _had happened. Did it even work?

Immediately after that small, quiet sound, there was complete chaos. Of those next few disorienting seconds, the one thing Sherman actually remembered was seeing the WABAC Return topple over, give out a shudder, and break apart.

* * *

"What were you _thinking, _running away again?" Mr. Whiner asked Sherman, holding him roughly by the neck, "I think I'll send you to reform school, you brat!"

"Now just a minute," said the Chief, coming up to Sherman and Whiner where they were standing behind a large police K-9 unit, "If this is your impression of the boy after only having guardianship of him for _one day_, perhaps you aren't the best fit person to be his guardian."

Mr. Whiner was silent.

"That's better," said the Chief, "The Petersons are with their daughter on the other side of the street. I thought you might want to have a talk with them."

"Thank you, Chief!" said Sherman, anxious to see Penny.

"Absolutely not!" Said Mr. Whiner, "Their little girl just tried to kidnap Sherman. Think of all the emotional turmoil he just went through up there!"

Mr. Whiner pointed upwards, at the Peabody building.

"Of _course_, the little girl was the mastermind behind a kidnapping," said the Chief sarcastically, "We've already established what really happened, Mr. Whiner. As to that emotional turmoil-if we had known that it was just those children in that apartment, we would have knocked. Unfortunately, we received a false report that Sherman was being forcibly held there by a grown adult." He frowned directly at Mr. Whiner.

"Can I go see Penny now?" Sherman asked, directing his question at the Chief.

"Go on," said the Chief, "Mr. Whiner and I need to have a little chat."

Whiner glared, but suffered Sherman to leave him.

"Now," began the Chief as soon as Sherman was out of sight, "I believe you owe the Peterson family an apology."

Across the street, Penny was the first to spot Sherman.

"You're okay!" She said, "I thought I lost you back there."

"I'm fine," he said to her, and quickly hugged her parents before pulling her to a quiet corner to speak with her privately.

"Did it work?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "I heard a click. Was that it?"

"I don't know," Sherman repeated, "If it was, where's Mr. Peabody?"

This was true. It had been at least an hour since they pressed the button together, and Mr. Peabody was nowhere in sight. If the WABAC Return really _had _worked, then by all means Mr. Peabody should be there by now. But he wasn't. Maybe something had happened to him, and he _couldn't _come. But Sherman wouldn't even _think_ of that.

"Don't worry Sherman," said Penny, "It probably just didn't work. We can try again."

"Right," Sherman said, "We'll try again. You have the instructions for Return machine, right?"

"No," said Penny, "I thought _you _had it."

"Then it must still be in the penthouse. Um, excuse me!" Sherman said, flagging down the next policeman who passed by them, "When can we go back into the building? We left something there, and we need it right away."

"Sorry kids," said the policeman, "It's going to be a while before anyone is allowed back in."

"What are we going to do now?" Sherman asked as the policeman walked away.

"Maybe we could sneak in," Penny suggested.

"Sneak in? With fifteen police cars still parked around the building?" Sherman asked.

Penny opened her mouth to answer him, but she was interrupted.

"Time to go kid," Whiner said, walking around a police interceptor to reach them, "Let's get as far away from this riff-raff as possible."

He reached forward to grab Sherman, and held him tightly by the arm.

"Come on," he said.

"Wait!" Sherman said, "There's something I left in the penthouse-"

"Leave it, brat," said Mr. Whiner, "I'm taking you home."

Sherman frowned. He already _was _home.

"Chief, Chief!" He called out.

"What are you _doing_?" Mr. Whiner asked, "Shut up."

"Chief! Chieeeeeeeeeef!" Sherman shouted.

"Just be quiet and get in the limo," Whiner said.

"CHIEF!" Sherman shouted, at the top of his lungs.

His actions, of course, did not go unnoticed. Several policemen and a few other bystanders were already walking towards Sherman, and the few who were walking away appeared to be trying to find the Chief.

"Get. In. The. Car. Now." Whiner said, his face very red with frustration.

"I'm coming!" called the Chief, running up to them.

"Chief!" Sherman said, "I want another guardian!"

"What?" Whiner said, "You can't do that!"

"_You_ are a bad influence!" Sherman said, which was the lowest remark he could think of, "Chief, I want to see the Judge again!"

"Giving a hissy fit won't get you what you want," said Whiner.

"Chief," said Sherman, ignoring Whiner, "I want to choose my own guardians, and I'd like the Petersons."

"It doesn't work that way, my boy," said the Chief, shaking his head sadly, "You're not of age yet, so you can't make that decision."

Sherman decided to try another approach.

"I'm still in charge of all Mr. Peabody's money," Sherman said, "If I don't see the Judge, I'm going to sign a paper that will give it all away as soon as I turn-"

"Chief, we need to see the Judge right away," interrupted Mr. Whiner, "Can you arrange it?"

An astonishing half an hour later, Sherman found himself once more standing in the courtroom.

"And in conclusion," he concluded, "I want to stay with the Petersons."

He sat down, and the entire court was silent.

"Well," said the Judge finally, "I must say I'm surprised. Why would you want to leave Mr. Whiner? Hasn't he been helping you with your finances, boy?"

"No," said Sherman.

"Really?" asked the Judge, "Then how is it that Peabody's money is currently being used to build the most up-to-date hospitals all over the world?"

"WHAT?" Mr. Whiner yelled, "Who's been touching my money?"

"Your honor, I can explain," said Mr. Williams, standing up, "Sherman commissioned me to spend his money wisely, and one of his requests was to build a hospital chain in honor of his father."

"Why didn't anyone tell me this?" Mr. Whiner mumbled to himself.

"Mr. Williams," said the Judge, "We knew of your involvement in the boy's finances a few days ago, when the rough handling of his money caused major economical problems. Are you saying that you have continued to be involved up until the present day?"

"Yes sir your honor," said Mr. Williams, "I have been very careful since then. There have been no other problems."

The Judge was surprised.

"It seems that the boy has no need of another financial adviser," he said, "he has managed to make his own arrangements for the money."

"Yes, but-" began Mr. Whiner.

"And it is clear," said the Judge, gesturing to Sherman, "That in his present situation the child is unhappy."

"I beg to differ," said Whiner, "You see-"

"In light of this present situation, this court rescinds its decision." The Judge said, "This is a highly unusual procedure, but then again, this is a highly unusual case. There is no need for someone with financial prowess to manage Sherman's wealth, when he can do so perfectly well with the help of Mr. Williams. Therefore, I declare that Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are now the boy's legal guardians, as he has requested. Dismissed."

"Sherman, you did it!" Penny shouted, standing up and giving Sherman a hug. He hugged Mr. and Mrs. Peterson as well, and also Mr. Williams, before he leaned forward to whisper to Penny.

"Now we don't have to worry anymore," he said, his eyes shining, "We can concentrate on building the WABAC Return, and finding my dad!"

"We'll make it properly this time, and he'll be home soon!" Penny said.

Sherman was about to respond to this when someone roughly grabbed him, and he found himself being lifted in the air.

"Don't anybody move!" Cried out Mr. Whiner, holding Sherman tightly to himself.

The courtroom was silent. Perhaps Whiner was holding something that Sherman couldn't see, or maybe they worried that he would choke the poor boy. Whatever the reason, everyone remained still.

"Come on, Sherman. We're leaving. We're getting out of here!"

"Mr. Whiner, just _what _do you think-" the Judge began to say, but he was rudely interrupted.

"Sherman is mine," said Mr. Whiner, his lips quivering, "Of course, of course he's mine! And-and we're leaving. Right now."

Sherman was starting to feel uncomfortable. Mr. Whiner was squeezing him too hard.

"Now Mr. Whiner, just take it easy..." began one of the courtroom's security team, "You don't want to do this. Just put the kid down...slowly."

"You let us go!" Mr. Whiner, for lack of a better word, whined, "C-come on, Sherman. Time to leave. They can't-they can't get you once we leave. I'll sue 'em if they try."

"Edwin," said Mr. Williams, "You're deluded. Think about what you're doing."

"Mr. Whiner," Sherman said softly, not only to placate the man but also because his lungs were burning from lack of oxygen.

"What?" Whiner asked, "I'm busy, Sherman. Can't you see that they're trying to take you away?"

Sherman had to force the air into and out of his lungs to say it.

"Don't...don't look down."

That did it. Edwin Whiner looked down, and while there was nothing on the ground for him to be looking at in particular, the security guards took the opportunity when he was distracted to quickly subdue him.

Mr. Whiner didn't stand a chance. Sherman was quickly torn out of his arms, and those arms were quickly placed behind his back.

Sherman, meanwhile, found himself suddenly seated on the courtroom floor.

"Sherman! Are you all right?" someone asked him. He thought it was Penny.

"Y-yes," Sherman said, and he promptly fainted.


	10. Pancakes

_Thank you everyone for reading, following and faving this story! Thank you especially OCGirl94, Jasoomian-Panthan, Jacq, purpledragon6, bleazel158, Jessye Perry, Lucy1220, Karts of Sugar Rush, RC, Sammy Heroes and Guest for reviewing! Constructive criticism is always very much appreciated. :)_

CHAPTER TEN

"Sherman," Penny said, "Sherman, wake up."

Sherman slowly found himself opening his eyes. For a few moments, he had absolutely no idea where he was. There were people around him that he didn't recognize. And he was in a place he didn't know. Closest to him was a girl about his own age. He thought he knew her, but he couldn't name her.

"Wha-?" he eloquently asked.

In a flash his memory returned, and he realized he was at the courthouse. He _did _know the people around him-they were the Judge, Penny, her parents, and other people who were in the room. Suddenly Sherman realized that he had fainted, and it was then that his slight amnesia scared him. He knew at that point that he never wanted to faint again.

"You fainted, Sherman," Penny said, although Sherman had already figured that out, "Are you all right?"

"I-I think so," Sherman said groggily.

"Here, drink this," someone said, and the boy found himself staring at a water bottle in his hands. He shakily uncapped it, and downed the entire bottle.

"Elevate your legs," someone else commanded, and Sherman's legs were pulled off the ground and placed on top of a folding chair. The result was that Sherman's head, now much lower than his legs, began to feel clearer.

"Feeling better?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"A little," said Sherman, who still felt a little weak, "What happened to Mr. Whiner?"

"He has been arrested," said the Judge, "Don't worry about him."

"Are you ready to get up now?" Mr. Peterson asked.

Sherman nodded, and was helped to his feet.

"There!" said the Judge, "Now that the boy is feeling better, you may take him home. But we still have to ascertain that he is comfortable there," the Judge continued, "Tomorrow we will send someone to your house. You've already met him, Sherman, he also came to Mr. Whiner's house."

"Understood," said Mr. Peterson, "He's welcome over anytime."

"Good," said the Judge, "Good bye, Sherman. Stay out of trouble!"

"Yes sir, your honor sir," Sherman stammered.

Then, with Penny forcing Sherman to lean his weight on her against his will, the Peterson family made their way out of the courthouse and into the family car.

"I still can't believe that the Judge finally granted us guardianship over you, Sherman," Mr. Peterson said as he turned on the car, "I was so sure there would be another millionaire who just _had _to adopt you."

"I'm glad there wasn't," Mrs. Peterson said, "He might have gone just as crazy as Mr. Whiner."

"Money can do that to a person," Mr. Peterson said, driving out of the parking lot.

"Yeah," said Penny, "So Sherman, when we make our own theme park, I'll make sure it doesn't go to your head."

"And that's another thing!" Mr. Peterson said loudly, "We're going to set down some ground rules about your money. I don't know if Mr. Whiner let you have anything you want with it, but as long as you're staying under my roof, you won't be touching a single cent until you're of age. If you want anything in the meantime you're going to have to save up for it yourself."

"But Dad!" Penny said, "What about an allowance?"

"An allowance is contingent on work, Penny," said Mr. Peterson, "If you and Sherman want an allowance, you're going to have to do chores around the house. That or get a job."

"A job?!" Penny asked, startled.

"When you're old enough for one, sweetie," her mother explained.

"Ugh!" Penny said, "I don't want to get a job!"

"You'll want one when you're older," her father explained.

Penny fell silent.

"We won't have to worry about the money," said Sherman, "I don't need to use it anyway, unless you'd like some of it to help pay for food and stuff. And sooner or later Mr. Peabody is coming back to get me."

The entire car fell silent.

"Sherman," said Mrs. Peterson, "That's very nice of you, but it's your money. Paul and I agreed not to touch it. But thank you for offering."

"You're welcome," Sherman said, "Are there any other rules I should know?"

"I don't think so," Mrs. Peterson said, "You stayed at our house before the court gave you to Mr. Whiner, and I think you learned all our rules then."

"There is one more thing," Mr. Peterson said, "You're not allowed to walk anywhere alone for a while. There are some crazies out there, and as soon as the story about you gets in the paper they might be after you for your money just like Mr. Whiner."

"What?" Penny said, "But we need to go back to Sherman's penthouse tomorrow!"

"Then one of us will take you," Mrs. Peterson said, "That's too far a walk for you both to walk alone, anyway."

"Penny," Sherman whispered, "Do you think we should tell your parents about what we're doing?"

"What, about building the WABAC Return?" Penny asked.

Sherman nodded.

"We can," Penny answered, "If we need to."

"Do you think that we did something wrong when we built it?" Sherman asked her.

"Probably," Penny said, "Or it just doesn't work."

"If Mr. Peabody built it, then it's going to work." Sherman argued.

"But he never built a prototype, remember?" Penny asked. She instantly regretted it, seeing the look on Sherman's face. "Um," she continued, "Or there might be another clue in the manual that we missed."

"That's probably it!" Sherman whispered, excitedly, "Why didn't I think of that? Penny, we missed something in the manual!"

"We can investigate it when we get it back from the penthouse tomorrow," Penny said.

"What are you two whispering back there?" Mrs. Peterson asked, a smile in her voice.

"Nothing!" Penny responded.

"Well, whatever 'nothing' is, you can finish talking inside," Mr. Peterson said, pulling the car into their driveway, "We're here."

Penny and Sherman were quick to rush inside, and they went into Penny's room to talk privately.

"So," Sherman said, "If Mr. Peabody isn't here by tonight, we'll know for _sure_ it didn't work. And we'll go over tomorrow to remake the machine."

"Sounds great!" Penny said, "But first, let's stop by the store."

"The store?" Sherman asked, "What for, Penny?"

"To pick up anything we need for the machine that might have broken," Penny said, "That thing was a wreck by the time we left, remember?"

"Right," Sherman said, "We'll ask your parents to take us to the store first."

Penny giggled. "They're going to be so surprised when we tell them what we need!" She laughed.

Sherman laughed too. Some of the crazy things used to build the WABAC Return included the container that disinfectant wipes come in, a watch, a guitar and a lampshade.

All that night during dinner, Penny couldn't wait until tomorrow. Sherman, on the other hand, was waiting for something else. He didn't want to tell Penny, but he was convinced that the machine had worked and Mr. Peabody was just late. All throughout dinner, brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed, Sherman kept anticipating that the Petersons would get an important call or something telling them that Mr. Peabody was alive, and that they were to bring Sherman back to the penthouse immediately.

Mrs. Peterson seemed to pick up on Sherman's anticipations, even if Penny didn't notice them. Although, Mrs. Peterson assumed that he was anxious about something else.

"Don't worry, Sherman," she said as she tucked him in bed, "Mr. Whiner can't get to you here. You're safe now, so you can relax."

That night he had a very restless sleep. The minute he woke up the next morning, Sherman tore off the bed sheets and raced downstairs-just in case Mr. Peabody had decided to come to the Petersons overnight.

What he found, however, was Mr. and Mrs. Peterson in the living room, arguing with a stranger. On second thought, he wasn't entirely a stranger; Sherman had briefly seen him at Mr. Whiner's house. He must be the person that the Court had sent over to check up on him.

"And moreover," the stranger was saying, "The conditions of this place are-well, hello there, Sherman. How are you this morning?"

"Fine," said Sherman.

"He's up early," said the stranger, "Do you always wake your children up this early?"

"No no!" said Mr. Peterson, "Only on schooldays. Our daughter Penny is still asleep."

"So," said the worker, unimpressed, "You give them free rein to sleep in as long as they want?"

"Um, you see," Mr. Peterson began.

"Sherman, why don't you go into the kitchen and have breakfast?" Mrs. Peterson interrupted, "I was making some pancakes earlier, and there's a nice stack of them on the table."

"Thank you, Mrs. Peterson," Sherman said, happy to get out of the room.

He quickly raced to the kitchen. Half an hour later, while the Petersons were still arguing with the stranger in the living room, Penny groggily entered the kitchen herself.

"Do you know his name?" She asked. Sherman shook his head.

"His name is Mr. Wall," she said, "I looked him up online. I don't think he likes my mom and dad."

"No," Sherman said, stuffing the last of his pancake into his mouth, "He liked Mr. Whiner. That's where I first saw him-at Mr. Whiner's house."

"Is there any more of that?" Penny asked, pointing to the empty plate.

"Sorry, that was the last one," Sherman said, "But I could make more for you."

"You? Cook food?" Penny asked, "Sherman, didn't you tell me you almost burnt down the house when you tried cooking without Mr. Peabody?"

"I can do it now," Sherman said, "Just watch!"

He got up and picked up the pancake recipe, which Mrs. Peterson had left conveniently on the counter.

"See? I just follow the instructions," he said, and he began to gather the ingredients.

"You know," Penny said as she watched him measure the flour, "I've been thinking. If Mr. Peabody heard you earlier when you asked him to bring me to the penthouse and he sent me a text message, then why don't we ask him to send us a text message telling us how he is, and what we should do?"

"Penny, you're a genius!" Sherman cried out, mixing the batter, "Mr. Peabody, please send Penny a text message!"

The two of them were silent, staring at Penny's phone. Penny was still staring sometime later, when Sherman placed a nice big stack of pancakes in front of her and handed her the syrup.

"He must be busy," Sherman said, giving himself one more pancake, "Maybe he'll send it later."

"I hope so, Sherman," Penny said.

As soon as Penny finished eating, Mr. Peterson stuck his head in the doorway.

"Sherman," he said, "Are you and Penny finished?"

"Yes Mr. Peterson," Sherman said.

"Mr. Wall wants to see you in the living room," Mr. Peterson said, "Wash your hands and face, alright?"

Sherman and Penny did just that, and then slowly walked into the room where the Peterson parents had been arguing since before the children awoke.

"Now," said Mr. Wall, the social worker, "Sherman. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Mostly," Sherman said. Mr. Wall raised his eyebrows, so Sherman elaborated, "I've been really missing Mr. Peabody lately, and it makes it hard to sleep."

"I see," said Mr. Wall, "Sherman, do you know what's going to happen with your money?"

The sudden change of topic threw the boy off guard.

"Well," he said, gesturing to Mr. Peterson, "He's says I'm not going to use it until I'm older."

"Listen," said Mr. Wall, "Mr. Peterson's plan to have all your money put in the bank. All your liquid assets will be taken charge of by Mr. Williams, while all your other assets and properties will stay right where they are. They are going to keep making money, lots of money. But you won't be able to touch a single cent of this until you are of age. Neither Mr. Peterson nor Mr. Williams will be able to give you so much as a dollar from your money when you need it. Do you really want to go through with this?"

"Yes," said Sherman, "I want it to be kept safe until Mr. Peabody comes back."

"And what if he never comes back?" Mr. Wall asked.

"Then the money will be kept safe anyway," Sherman said, "But Mr. Peabody's coming back, so I won't worry about it."

"Alright, that's enough," said Mr. Wall, sounding annoyed, "I know you people are dense, but this is ridiculous. Sherman, Peabody is dead. Deal with it and move on."

"Mr. Wall!" said Mrs. Peterson, "That is _enough_!"

"Out!" said Mr. Peterson, pointing to the door with a red face, "Out of my house!"

"Oh no," said Mr. Wall, "I'm not done. And unless you want me to tell the court that Sherman should be taken in by another family, you're going to let me finish."

"Not if you're going to keep saying those things to Sherman," said Mr. Peterson, "If you do, I'm kicking you out and suing you for psychological damage."

"And whose fault would that be?" asked Mr. Wall, "Wouldn't it be yours? _You're _the ones who should be telling him to knock off the fake hope."

"There is no proof that Peabody is dead," said Mrs. Peterson.

"Well, the court says otherwise." Said Mr. Wall, "Sherman, he's gone. Mourn and move on."

The front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," said Mrs. Peterson.

"Stay," said Mr. Wall commandingly, "I'm not finished, and everyone should hear this. Sherman, suppose-just for an instant-that Peabody is never coming back. Would you still like to live here then?"

"What?" Sherman asked.

"Would you still like to live here, in this dump, without _any _of your money?"

"Yes," said Sherman, "And it's not a dump."

"Would you still live here, even though that would mean doing chores?"

The doorbell rang again.

"Yes," said Sherman, "I'm used to chores. But Mr. Peabody is coming back, so-"

Mr. Wall actually reached out and grabbed Sherman's collar.

"Get this through your thick head," he began.

At that moment Mr. Peterson took a step forward, and Mr. Wall immediately let go of Sherman.

"_Understand_ this," he continued, "Peabody is _never _coming back. And I don't think you're prepared for that."

Once more, someone outside the house rang the doorbell.

"Will someone get that infernal door!" Mr. Wall cried out.

"I'll-" began Mrs. Peterson.

"Not you!" said Mr. Wall, "Sherman, _you _get the door. You want to live in this house? Then prove it to me. Answer the door."

"Wait!" said Penny, speaking for the first time, "What if it's someone who wants to kidnap Sherman? My dad said-"

"Your dad's an idiot," said Mr. Wall, "The kid will be fine. Look, Sherman, I know I'm being harsh, but I just want you to understand what is going on. I need to know you'll be happy living here for the next decade. Do you understand?"

The doorbell rang again.

"Just get the door," said Mr. Wall, not even waiting for Sherman to answer his question.

"Mr. Peabody _is _alive," said Sherman as he walked out of the room and into the hallway.

"He's dead and you know it," Mr. Wall responded, "Now get going."

"I'm coming with you," Penny whispered as she stepped behind Sherman.

"The girl stays," Mr. Wall said, "_Sherman _has to do this on his own. Tell the person at the door to go away and come back later."

"Sorry Sherman," Penny whispered as she fell back into the room.

"That's okay," Sherman whispered back.

He rounded the corner and gave a sigh of relief as soon as Mr. Wall was out of sight.

"Mr. Peabody _is _alive," he grumbled to himself, "And Penny and I are going to find him."

The doorbell rang again. It was starting to get annoying.

"Coming!" Sherman yelled out, and he finally reached the door.

Still grumbling, he turned the doorknob and threw the door wide open.

Immediately, Sherman came face to face with who was on the other side, and before he could gasp he was violently thrown backwards into the Peterson's hallway. White filled his vision, and if an arm hadn't protected his head he would have had a hard meeting with the floor. Just as he was starting to make sense of his new position, his captor held him down in what was practically a choke hold. Then, just as suddenly as when he had been knocked down, Sherman found himself being pulled off the ground and back onto his feet, facing his attacker.

"I apologize for my enthusiasm, Sherman," he said, brushing off his coat. And that was the moment when Sherman hugged him back, knocking both of their glasses askew in the process.


	11. Conclusion

_Well, as you might expect from the previous chapter, this is *sniff* the last chapter! This was a lot of fun to write. Maybe I'll write another down the road. A special thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: FlamyAngelwings, Guest, OCGirl94, Dreamcatcher-Megan, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, bleazel158, The Consulting Panda, Indri08, RC, snowangel420, ZBoss, Viscount Edmund Allenby, Jacq, Guest, Shizuku Tsukishima749 and Guest! _

_Also, a very special thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed! Your comments and constructive criticism deserve more thanks than I can give. And, a super-special thank you to everyone who has favorited and/or followed this story! Last but not least, to all you readers out there, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing. And hopefully you enjoyed solving some of the puzzles as well.  
_

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Mr. Peabody!" Sherman exclaimed.

Unfortunately, his exclamation was muffled by virtue of the fact that he had enveloped his face into Mr. Peabody's fur.

"Oh Sherman, it's so good to _hold_ you again!" Mr. Peabody said, "I really missed-Sherman, are you all right?"

Mr. Peabody pulled the boy away from him to look into his eyes.

"There there, Sherman," he said, wiping away a stray tear, "It's alright, I'm here now."

"It's really you," Sherman said, pulling Mr. Peabody into another hug.

"Of course I am," said Mr. Peabody, "Sorry I took so long. The WABAC Return is a real energy zapper. It took hours for the WABAC to build up enough energy to open the door. It didn't help that I was a little weak myself..."

"You mean it worked?" Sherman asked, "Penny and I did it? We brought you home?"

"You did indeed, Sherman!" Mr. Peabody said, "You built the machine from my notes, remember? Naturally it was going to work."

"But where _were _you?" Sherman asked, "Or when? And why were you gone?"

"All in good time, Sherman," said Mr. Peabody, closing the front door and starting to walk down the hallway, "Everything will be explained. Now, where are the Petersons? I must thank them for taking care of you."

"In the living room, talking with Mr. Wall," said Sherman.

"Wall?" said Peabody, halting in mid-step, "Who is Mr. Wall?"

"He's not very nice," Sherman explained, "The court sent him over to check up on me here, but he doesn't like the Petersons at all."

"He doesn't?" Mr. Peabody asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not, he's very mean to them. And he kept trying to tell me you're dead, and he said the Petersons were idiots to believe that you're alive."

"He said that, did he?" Mr. Peabody questioned, a small fire hidden in his eyes, "That's it. I'm putting a stop to this entire charade right now."

"Huh?" Sherman asked.

"It's bad enough that I disappeared, but the antics of the court only made things worse," Peabody explained, starting to walk down the hallway again, "There were so many breaches of the law that another court wouldn't know where to begin. By the way," he stopped again and faced Sherman, "I'm very proud of the way you handled everything, Sherman. Especially what you did yesterday."

"Thanks, Mr. Peabody," Sherman said, "But how did you know what we were doing?"

"I'll explain later," said Mr. Peabody, walking down the hallway again, "First, we have some business to take care of."

Sherman was a little surprised that Mr. Peabody seemed to know the layout of the Peterson house, but since he was heading in the direction of the living room the boy dutifully followed behind him.

"_Sherman_!" cried out Mr. Wall from somewhere ahead of them, "You've had plenty of time to send away the person at the door! If you can't do a simple chore like that how do you intend to live here? Come back here before I-"

He stopped suddenly, at the very moment when Mr. Peabody entered the room. The Peterson parents and Penny followed his line of sight, and gasped. There, standing in the door with his hands at his waist, was Mr. Peabody, glaring at Mr. Wall.

"Before what?" Peabody asked.

"M-M-Mr. Peabody!" Wall said, looking very shocked.

"You're alive!" Mr. Peterson exclaimed.

"Are you all right?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"Sherman, you did it! We did it!" Penny cried out.

The three Peterson members ran over to where Mr. Peabody was standing, and began congratulating him on his health.

"No," said Mr. Wall, bringing everyone back to the present moment, "No, you can't be alive! You-you're dead!"

"I most assuredly am not," Mr. Peabody said, "I've come to get my boy, Sherman. Now if you would kindly leave the Petersons alone-"

Peabody didn't need to say anything else, because at that point a very flustered Mr. Wall tore past him, intent upon leaving the house.

"JUST a minute!" Mr. Peabody yelled, "I am not done with you!"

Mr. Wall was already partially out the door, but Mr. Peabody tackled him from behind and rolled him onto the floor.

"Listen," Peabody said, sitting on the man more than twice his size, "I have a message for you to take to the court in charge of Sherman's well-being. They had better start finding new jobs, because by this time tomorrow they will all be out of office."

"You can't fire-"

"_I _can do anything," said Mr. Peabody, "A simple phone call will suffice. Would you like an example? I think the President is usually in a meeting at this time, but he'll be more than happy to-"

"No no, I'll take your word for it," interrupted Mr. Wall, starting to shake uncontrollably, "J-just let me go, and I'll deliver the message."

"Good man," said Mr. Peabody, patting Mr. Wall on the head as he stood up. As soon as that man was free he ran out the front door, slamming it behind him.

"Can you really fire them, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"I'm not going to fire them, Sherman," Mr. Peabody explained, "They're all going to step down of their own accord."

"Huh? Why?" Penny asked.

"Well Penny, think about it," said Mr. Peabody, "That particular court only cared about one thing: money. As soon as they realize I'm back, all of their selfish decisions about Sherman will be revealed, and they'll be _forced _to step down."

"You mean Judge too?" Sherman asked.

"Yes, Sherman. Especially the judge," said Mr. Peabody, "And you forgot the word 'the'. It's _the _judge, Sherman. You can call him by his name, you know."

"He has a name?" Sherman asked.

"Mr. Peabody," said Mr. Peterson, "Would you mind telling us what happened?"

"Not at all, Paul," said Mr. Peabody, "Although it might take a while."

"Then why don't we all go to the living room?" Mrs. Peterson asked, leading the way.

Everyone sat down in the living room, and Sherman sat down practically on Mr. Peabody's lap. As soon as Penny was comfortably seated on Peabody's other side, Mr. Peabody began.

"First, I want to thank you for taking such good care of Sherman," he addressed the Petersons, "And I want to thank you, Penny, for helping to rescue me."

"You're welcome," Penny said brightly.

"How did they help you?" Mrs. Peterson asked, confused, "Didn't you just get here?"

"You see," said Mr. Peabody, "I was returning from a personal errand when I became stuck within the WABAC. You remember the WABAC, don't you? Well, a long time ago, when Sherman was very young, I created a manual for the WABAC. I also wrote a children's book on time travel, for the purpose of leading Sherman to the manual's location. The book was placed in the library, and it contains a series of hints written in conjunction with the manual. Together, the two books contain the answers to any problem the WABAC might face."

"Wow," said Mr. Peterson, astonished.

"The children didn't entirely know this," said Mr. Peabody, "They only discovered things one at a time. I wrote most of the library book in code, and together Sherman and Penny uncovered the clues I left them. These two," he hugged them, "finally built the one thing I needed to return, and here I am."

"But Mr. Peabody," said Sherman, "That doesn't explain what happened."

"Yes Mr. Peabody," said Penny, "What about those things you did, like sending us pizza?"

"That was really you?" Mr. Peterson said.

"Yes, that was me," said Mr. Peabody, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm sorry for alarming all of you. I merely thought the children might be growing hungry."

"But how did you do that when you were stuck in time?" Sherman asked, "When were you, Mr. Peabody?"

"Not _when, _Sherman. _Where_. I was right here the entire time."

The room fell silent.

"What?" Sherman asked.

"I never left you," said Mr. Peabody, "At least, not when I had a choice."

"What are you talking about?" Penny asked.

"The WABAC hit turbulence, to put it simply," said Mr. Peabody, "It took everything I had to make it home, but when I got there-well, it is difficult to explain. The closest thing I can say is that I was on another plane of existence. You might say I was in the fifth dimension."

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"It means," said Mr. Peabody, "That until the children activated the WABAC Return, which pulled the WABAC back into its proper state of being, I was stuck. It took me a few days to figure out what had happened. By the time I realized the WABAC didn't have enough energy to pull itself back, you were taking Sherman into your home. A while later, after the international search for me ended and I was declared dead, I finally figured out a way of creating an alternate source of energy for myself."

"Was that around the time you sent us the pizza, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"Yes Sherman," said Mr. Peabody, "I was able to call the pizza company using the phone in the WABAC. It drained a lot of energy to do so, but I daresay it was worth it. It was much easier to send an email to Mr. Williams, the data transfer between dimensions took up far less energy."

"So, every time you did something like that for us, you used up energy?" Penny asked, "Is that why you only helped us out some of the time?"

"Yes, that's exactly right!" said Mr. Peabody, "Of course, as time went on I discovered ways to save energy. I was able to start touching actual objects again, if I was careful. Letting go of an object at the wrong time was disastrous. If you remember, Sherman and Penny, I wrote out a numerical code for you on the back of a loose sheet of paper in the manual. I accidentally let go of the pencil before I should have, and it disintegrated."

"Whoa," said Sherman.

"You see," Mr. Peabody said, "The ripple effect caused by the WABAC's arrival in that dimension created windows of opportunity, and at certain times I could touch objects from this state without losing too much energy."

"When did you do that?" Mrs. Peterson asked, leaning forwards in her chair with anticipation.

"Whenever I could," said Peabody, "For example, take the night you were asleep in Whiner's house, Sherman. I spent the night with you, and the next morning I was downstairs listening to Whiner's plans. I learned that you needed to be awake in order for Whiner's associate-who I now recognize as Mr. Wall-to deem you worthy of handling your money. So I went upstairs and took advantage of the ripples to wake you up."

"Wait!" Sherman said, "That was-that was _you _shaking me? And you broke that vase!"

"Yes," said Mr. Peabody, "It did the trick, didn't it? But the largest window took place in the courtroom. I was fully aware of Whiner's true intentions for you, and I-"

"You're the one who pulled me!" Sherman said, "You pulled me out of the room and into the closet!"

"Naturally," said Mr. Peabody, "I had to be very careful that time. I had calculated the precise amount of time the window would last, and it was just enough. I turned off the lights and briefly pulled you into my own state of being. There was just enough time to get you into the closet."

"So _that's _what happened," Penny said, "I was still holding onto Sherman when he ran off-or, I guess, when you lead him away."

"It was easy enough to accomplish," said Mr. Peabody, "After I grabbed Sherman, we just walked right through you and out the door."

"Wait-did you say we went _through_ Penny?" Sherman asked.

"You could do that?" Mr. Peterson asked.

"It was another dimension, remember?" Peabody smiled, "That's how I got you into the closet, Sherman. The door was already locked; I just pulled you through it."

"But why did you hide him in the closet?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"Because I did _not _want Mr. Whiner to get his hands on him," Peabody said emphatically, "That crook is the last person on the _planet _who should care for my son. That's why I sent a cab for you, Sherman, at the police station. Even though that cost me a lot of energy at that point, I wanted it there in case you managed to run away from him."

"So," said Penny, "Because you were invisible around us, you heard everything we said, right?"

"Yes," said Mr. Peabody, "That is, up until the point where you made the WABAC Return. I had to enter the WABAC before you pressed the Return button, so I had to leave you then. I was able to quickly send you a warning that your time was limited by recording a conversation between Whiner and the police, and then I called you and played back the recording. After you pressed the Return button, the WABAC and I had to recuperate for a while. When I heard this morning that you had won your case against the court, Sherman, and that you were back here at the Petersons, I was very glad to hear it. Of course, I didn't expect Mr. Wall to come and try to coerce you away."

"But Mr. Peabody," said Mr. Peterson, "Why didn't you just call or email us, or the children, and let us know where you were?"

"I'm afraid that wasn't possible," said Mr. Peabody, "What would have happened if I had? The police would have said Sherman and Penny were imagining, or you and your wife were crazy. In addition, it would probably have placed undue pressure on whomever I told. I thought it was enough if Sherman and Penny knew I was alive, and could help me by building the WABAC Return."

"But you could have told me, Mr. Peabody," said Sherman, squirming in his seat to face Peabody, "If you didn't want me to tell anyone I wouldn't, but I really, really wanted to know where you were."

"I know, Sherman, and I'm sorry," said Mr. Peabody, hugging the boy with one arm, "I thought it was better this way."

"Well," said Mrs. Peterson, standing up from her seat, "What's done is done. I think that, since Mr. Peabody has returned and we now have two heroes in the family"- here she smiled at both Penny and Sherman-"now is the perfect time to celebrate. Mr. Peabody, Sherman, would you like to stay for lunch?"

"Thank you, but I think we should be leaving now," said Mr. Peabody, likewise standing up, "Sherman and I have some catching up to do."

"Of course," said Mr. Peterson, "We understand. Can we invite you over for dinner this Friday?"

"We would be delighted," Mr. Peabody said, "Come on, Sherman. Go pack your suitcase upstairs. We're going home."

Within fifteen minutes everything was packed, and Mr. Peabody placed Sherman's suitcase in the sidecar of his scooter.

"I'll see you soon Sherman," said Penny, "It was a lot of fun finding your dad and everything. Want to come over to play sometime before Friday?"

"Sure!" said Sherman, "And you can come over to my place too."

He stepped into the sidecar. Mr. Peabody was already waiting, and took off as soon as Sherman was settled.

"When we get home, Sherman, I want to take you to see the gardens," Mr. Peabody said.

"Gardens?" Sherman said.

"Don't you remember? I promised you that we would visit the hanging gardens of Babylon."

"But Mr. Peabody!" Sherman argued, "Isn't the WABAC broken?"

Mr. Peabody actually laughed.

"Of course not!" He said, "The WABAC is perfectly fine. It's just a matter of-oh, never mind. The point is, we can leave right away if we want to."

"Maybe we should wait a few days first," Sherman said.

"If doing so makes you feel more comfortable," Mr. Peabody said, "But Sherman, you have been traveling in the WABAC almost your whole life. Why stop now because of one storm?"

"I guess if you put it that way," Sherman said, "We can go today. But Mr. Peabody, I've been thinking. Why were you using the WABAC at night without me anyway?"

Mr. Peabody looked a little sheepish.

"That is not a normal occurrence," he said, "But, well...I realized we had never been to Babylon before, and I wanted to introduce myself to the King before we visited the hanging gardens the next day. I almost took you with me, but you were already asleep. Perhaps it is a good thing I didn't take you after all, or we might _both _have been stuck in that other dimension. Any other questions?"

"Um, yeah. How come you never told me that the entire _bank _belongs to you?"

"Because there was no need for you to know," said Mr. Peabody, "And since I am here now, it's my job to worry about these things."

At that point they reached the penthouse.

"Mr. Peabody, people are staring at us," Sherman whispered.

It was true. People on the streets were staring at them with open mouths.

"Let them look!" Peabody spoke in his normal voice, "We'll be in the front papers tomorrow anyway, so they might as well get used to us. Come, Sherman. Let's get inside."

They both ignored the stares of all the passers-by, and rode the elevator up to their floor.

"Ah, home!" Mr. Peabody said as the elevator door opened, "Still just the same as ever. Why don't I make us lunch, Sherman?"

And after all this time, that one question was the moment when Sherman _finally_ realized that Mr. Peabody was truly home.

THE END


End file.
